The Will, the Witch, and the Wizard
by Kathryn Comes
Summary: It's been 3 years since the Battle of Hogwarts, and Fred's will is finally being read. The executor - the eldest Malfoy child, Aquila, who is still dealing with the guilt of her family's actions, as well as her own inaction. While Fred passed many of his belongings on to the rest of the family, George is simply left a letter with a single request - to finish Fred's bucket list.
1. Chapter 1

"Dear Mr. George Weasley,

You have been named in the will of Mr. Fred Weasley. The office of Churching, Hawkins, and Twittering request your presence in two days time, at 9:00AM, on the date of May 2, 2001 for the reading of the will. If you are able, please send a response by return owl at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your time,

Aquila Malfoy"

George squinted at the name with some surprise. The name sounded slightly familiar. Most of his knowledge of the Malfoy family came from his father. However, Lucius Malfoy hadn't worked at the Ministry since the downfall of Voldemort, no surprise there.

The only thing he knew about Aquila Malfoy was that she had been educated at Beauxbatons. His father had mentioned it on one occasion while complaining about Lucius Malfoy and his "pompous, arrogant arse".

Refolding the letter at his desk, and quickly scribbled out a response on a spare piece of parchment. Tying it to the ankle of the tawny owl that sat waiting near the window, he sighed, and ran a hand through his hair as he watched the it take off into the sky.

"Why now?" he wondered. "Why now, after all these years?"

In a few days, it will have been 3 years since the Battle of Hogwarts and the death of his twin brother. 3 years that George had spent wandering around in a daze. 3 years of feeling as though he was missing a limb. 3 years of being truly, bitterly alone.

When someone dies, you're never really prepared. You keep suddenly remembering, as if the murder of a loved one is something you could possibly forget. In the beginning, George would turn and begin to open his mouth, a joke ready on his lips. And then at once, realize that no one was there. He would set out two mugs of tea in the evening, sinking slowly down to the floor while he stared at Fred's favorite chair and both cups grew cold. He would see his mother close her eyes and cry, every time she looked at him. It was better now, for his family. They had begun putting their lives back together and moving forward. George couldn't, however. He was still stuck in the same place he was 3 years ago.

Lurching back to the present, George rubbed the side of his head, in the spot where his ear used to be. What had once been a gesture of shock at his missing ear had since become a comforting movement. He sighed again and poured himself some Firewhiskey. Perhaps the liquid fire would unlock something from his memory. Massaging his temples, he thought more. Fred had never mentioned a will. Frankly, he didn't seem like the type to have one. Even when everyone feared for their lives during second war, Fred had never believed it would be them.

"Kill two handsome blokes like us? Never, Georgie." He'd say, with a wink and flourish.

George closed his eyes and downed the rest of his glass. Looking out the window, he was surprised how dark the sky was. His trip down memory lane had taken far longer than he had realized. George stood up from his desk and set the glass in the sink. The next day was going to be long ones, he thought, finishing his nightly routines and settling into bed. He tapped the bedroom lamp one time with his wand, switching it off.

"Goodnight, Freddie," he said softly, just like every other night since he could speak. And just like every other night since the Battle, he was met with nothing but silence.

—-

The clock began to chime 7 o'clock, waking George with a start. He had fallen into a listless sleep, tossing and turning throughout the night. His recurring dream had plagued him again last night, as it had done nearly every night since Fred has been killed. It was always the same dream.

George would find himself in the family garden, with Fred standing a few meters away, his back to George. The closer George walked to him, the more Fred walked away from him. No matter what he did or how fast he ran, George could never reach him, even when he stretched out his arm as far as he could, attempting to simply touch his brother's shoulder. He was always just barely out of reach. Sometimes he felt so close that George thought he could feel the fabric of Fred's sweater on his finger tips before he moved farther away.

George groaned and rolled out of bed. He had one hour to dress and have breakfast before the shop needed to be opened. Business had been good since the war ended. Great, in fact. With Voldemort and the threat of death no longer hanging over their heads, the wizarding population of England had come out in droves to the joke shop, eager to put the pain of the past behind them.

Flicking his wand, his robes flew out of the wardrobe and onto his bed. Shrugging them on, George busied himself with making breakfast until it was time to go downstairs and unlock the shop. Verity had already arrived when he made his way down, whistling happily as she restocked the Fainting Fancies.

"Morning, Mr. Weasley!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

"Good morning, Verity." responded George with a small smile, as he took his place behind the register. "Are we ready to open up?"

"Nearly, I've just got to make sure that the muggle tricks are fully stocked." Verity replied, straightening a row of brightly colored Skiving Snackboxes.

Upon her confirmation that the muggle magic tricks were adequately stocked, George unlocked the front door and welcomed in the first customers of the day.

The day passed quickly, thankfully leaving George with little time to mull over the letter. At 5 o'clock in the evening, Verity said a cheery goodbye and exited the store. George helped a few more straggling customers and walked them to the door, preparing to lock up. At that moment, however, his mother walked entered the store. George quickly shut the door behind her, flicking off the magically bright "Open for Business!" sign.

"Hi Mum", murmured George, hugging her deeply, as soon as he saw her.

She squeezed his shoulders and tutted to herself. "Oh George, dear, you're too skinny! You really need to eat more."

"Mum, I'm fine." said George, attempting to reassure his mother. "I eat plenty, I promise."

Molly Weasley shook her head and stepped back from his hug, analyzing his features. "You look like you haven't slept in ages, dear." she said, pinching his cheek gently.

"It's a busy life, running a business. After all, it is just me and Verity." he said, giving her a small smile.

His mother tutted again. "I've told you before, you need to hire some other staff members. You're working yourself to death, George."

"And I told you, I'm fine." he snapped harshly.

George immediately saw the hurt in his mother's eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mum," he sighed, taking a deep breath and turning his eyes to the ceiling. "You're right. I haven't been sleeping."

His mother patted his hand with her own. "You never could fool me, dear. I know you haven't been sleeping. I know you haven't been eating. And I know that you're wondering why Fred had a will that he didn't tell you about."

George jerked his head down and stared at his mother.

"How did you know?"

"We all received letters," Molly replied, with a sad smile.

"Even Percy?"

Molly laughed lightly. "Even Percy."

"I just...I just don't understand why he didn't tell me. Why he didn't tell any of us."

Frustrated, George ran his hands through his hair.

"I think that he didn't want to worry you. And Merlin knows that we all had enough to worry about during that time," Molly said softly, "Sometimes I think that the only thing that kept me from completely breaking down was Fred's unfailing optimism. He kept all of us going."

"He was my brother. And my best friend. He should have trusted me!" George cried, slamming his fist into the nearest display. Molly gasped a little, as the items went flying. "He should have trusted me." George said again, this time softly.

Molly took her son's hand in her own. "I know you're upset. But we can't change what's in the past. We can only look towards the future.

George shook his head.

"He should have told me."

His mother said nothing, just continued to look at him with concern in her eyes.

"I need to clean this up," said George, now staring at the display he had knocked over moments before. "You should go home."

His mother looked taken aback at his abrupt manor. She attempted to hug him one more time, however George quickly shrugged her off.

She looked at him sadly. Slightly ashamed, George couldn't meet her gaze.

Molly turned to leave. "Remember, Georgie, no matter how old you get, no matter what happens...I'll always be your mother. And I'll always love you."

And with that, she retreated out the door, turned on the spot, and disappeared.

George locked the door behind her. He felt guilty about his treatment of his mother. Waving his wand, he muttered a quick spell to pick up the fallen potions. Thankfully none of them had broken.

George finished cleaning up, and made a note for Verity of the store items that would need to be restocked before opening tomorrow. He wasn't sure how long the will reading would take, especially considering that all 8 members of the Weasley family were being called to the office.

He walked upstairs, again rubbing the side of his head. "Merlin, I'm not prepared for this," George thought tiredly.

Once in his apartment, he quickly pulled on his pajamas and got into bed, staring at a small bottle on his nightstand.

It had been there for three years. A sleeping draft. He couldn't bring himself to take it, though. The only time he saw his brother was in his dreams. Without seeing Fred in his dreams, it was like he was truly, completely gone. And that wasn't something George was for.

He closed his eyes.

"Goodnight, Freddie."


	2. Chapter 2

I own nothing but my OCs, Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling

—-

Aquila Malfoy opened her eyes blearily. It was too early.

Really, it wasn't early at all, but frankly being woken up at any time before noon felt too early after a long night of restless sleep. She had never been a good sleeper. There was always something in her, some heightened sense, ready to wake her and flee at a moments notice. Her mother called her "high strung". Narcissa was right. She was high strung. Jittery and nervous, Aquila was constantly stressed about something. Even as a child, with Draco running around the manor and laughing like a child should, she would follow behind him, fretting and agitated, concerned over his safety.

It had only managed to worsen as she got older. Now, Aquila was a woman of routine. Wake up, go to work, come home, have dinner, read and watch muggle tv, then go to bed. The same thing, every day. And that was just the way she liked it.

Merlin, she loved muggle tv. It was so interesting, with their mundane problems and strange ways. Her parents had never approved, blood purists that they were. But to Aquila, it was a way to leave her life and problems behind.

" _Today is not going to be easy,"_ she thought to herself. Coming face to face with a family that had been devastated by the same war that her family had helped to start.

3 years hadn't been long enough to quell the guilt that lived in side of her. Aquila knew that several people at the office silently judged her for what the Malfoy family had done. She didn't resent those people though, she understood. She judged herself for it, after all. Sometimes she lay awake in bed, and wondered how many lives she would have saved if she had just _done something_.

Perhaps this "Fred Weasley" would still be alive.

Aquila finally rolled out bed with another groan, and strode into the bathroom. Gliding a brush quickly through her chest-length hair, she stared at her reflection.

Tall and slender, with the familiar cold gray eyes, pointed face, and white-blonde hair that everyone directly associated with the Malfoy family name.

Aquila made a face at herself in the mirror and rolled her eyes. No matter what she did now to make people think she was a decent person, the second that anyone saw her, all they thought was " _Traitor"_. Much of the wizarding world thought her parents should have gotten a life sentence in Azkaban for their assistance in the rise of the Dark Lord. And the worst part was, Aquila agreed with them.

Pulling herself back to to the present, Aquila finished dressing and quickly ate breakfast, flooing to the office at 8:30 on the dot.

Churching, Hawkins, and Twittering was one of the largest wizarding law firms in England. Dealing with everything from real estate, to employment, to her specialty - trusts, wills, and estates.

In a way, she saw it as her punishment for her inaction. A small amount of retribution for the dead victim that she should have to be the one to read their last requests and speak to their grieving family.

Most of the wills and estates had been executed last year. This one, however, had specified that she wait 3 years from the date of death to read it. And so she had waited. 3 years of endless guilt for what her family had done. 3 years of shame for the people she had failed help. 3 years of watching the world heal and move on, while she sat and watched.

The office was already buzzing when she entered the doors, after deftly shaking off the small amount of dirt from the fireplace.

"Morning, Ms. Malfoy," chirped a few of the staff members.

She gave them a nod and entered her private office, shutting the door softly. Aquila said a quick hello to her office owl, a tawny named Salazar, or "Sal", for short. The intern who had ordered the new office owls several years prior had apparently been a Hogwarts history fan, as the 4 new owls had been named Godric, Helga, Rowena, and Salazar. Although she had not attended Hogwarts, she was sure that the staff had intentionally given her the Slytherin owl on purpose. To be fair, she did know her personality. If she had gone to Hogwarts, she was certain that she would have been placed in Slytherin.

Sal nuzzled his head into Aquila's hand, and she granted him a few more minutes of affection, a small smile on her face.

As the door to her office opened sharply, Aquila gave a small jump.

"Sorry Aquila, I didn't mean to scare you like that," said the short, dark haired woman who had entered the room.

Just two years older than herself, Eliza had been her assistant for several years, and was probably the sole reason that Aquila hadn't had a stress related breakdown. Kind hearted and loyal, Eliza embodied Hufflepuff house. Never without a smile on her face and a joke ready to make everyone laugh, she was a genuinely good hearted person who loved to help people.

Aquila was thankful for her. While the pair may have seemed like opposites, they became fast friends on Aquila's first day.

—

She had knocked over a pot of "Midnight Ink", onto a will, a special writing substance that the firm used to keep legal documents from being magically altered by jealous family members or other angry individuals. No spell Aquila knew would remove the ink.

She sat on her floor, head in her hands.

" _Merlin's beard, they're going to fire me on my first day."_

Eliza had entered the office, and upon hearing Aquila's teary cries of "knocked over ink", "ruined", and "FIRED", handed her a hot cup of tea and patted her on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, I can fix it!" Eliza laughed, "I can't tell you how many people have done that."

She left the room, and Aquila slowly began to calm, taking a deep breath and sipping her tea. Eliza quickly returned with a small cauldron and a few items. Smartly mixing the potion together, she explained, "They _say_ that the ink is forever, but I managed to figure out a potions to wash it off. It's saved several sticky situations, this potion has."

Pouring the potion over the ruined will, Aquila was shocked to see the ink wash off. Eliza muttered a spell, cleaning up the Midnight Ink that had moments before soaked the will. She smiled again at Aquila.

"I told you it would be alright. Like I said, I can't tell you how often that happens. You'd think they would just keep a stock of the potion on hand at all times by now."

Aquila rose to her feet and did the most impulsive thing she had ever done in her life - wrapping her arms around Eliza, she gave the young woman a quick hug.

Eliza hugged her back and smiled.

"I think we're going to be good friends."

—

Eliza entered the office with Aquila's morning cup of tea.

"You seem jumpy," she said, setting the tea on the large oak desk. "Even more jumpy than usual."

"I am," responded Aquila, moving to sit down at her desk. "It's the Weasley will reading today."

Eliza nodded, understanding. "Today will be tough, but you'll get through it. You've gotten through difficult will readings before and you'll do it again."

"Thanks 'Liza," said Aquila, taking a sip of her tea, "They should be here soon."

"I'll bring in some tea when they arrive. Like Mum always said, "Warm drink warms the heart!" finished Eliza brightly.

Aquila gave a small laugh. "Your Mum is right. Tea always makes me feel better."

With another sunny smile, Eliza left the room. A few moments later, she receive a knock, and the front receptionist opened the door wide enough to poke her head in.

"Ms. Malfoy, the Weasley family is here for their appointment."

"Thank you, Mary," said Aquila, "Please show them in."

Mary opened the door, and 8 red headed people entered her room.

Aquila conjured up several chairs out of thin air, and the family members quickly took their seats.

The woman who appeared to be the matriarch of the family already had a handkerchief out, while the rest of the Weasleys patted her on the back.

"Good morning," said Aquila, "Thank you for meeting me on such short notice. I understand that today is the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, so I apologize for meeting with you on an already stressful day."

"Why?"

The asker was a man about her own age, tall and slightly gangly, with a missing ear.

Aquila looked down uncomfortably. "The will specifies that it should be read 3 years from the date of death."

The older woman began to cry at this, blowing her nose loudly in her handkerchief.

"Like I said, I do apologize. But I have to do what the will says," Aquila pulled a piece of paper from her desk. ""I'm going to do a quick roll call, to make sure that everyone mentioned in the will is here. Arthur Weasley?"

The older man raised his hand.

"Molly Weasley?"

The woman waved her handkerchief slightly.

Aquila quickly ran through the rest of the names, sadly noting that the young man who had earlier asked her a question was the dead man's twin brother.

Eliza softly knocked, and entered after Aquila called "Come in."

She passed out mugs of tea to all of the Weasleys, and handed Molly a fresh tissue.

After Eliza closed the door behind her, Aquila turned back to the family. "If everyone is ready, I believe that we can begin the reading."

The Weasleys nodded and murmured various forms of "Yes" and "Ready".

Aquila pulled the will out of a file on her desk, and begin to read.

"I, Fred Weasley, being of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath the following items -

To my mother, Molly Weasley, I leave all of the Ton-Tongue Toffees I have in my possession, in remembrance of the time that she destroyed all of our Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes products because we used one on Harry's evil cousin."

Molly began loudly crying at that.

"I also want to tell her," Aquila began, and took a deep breath. "I also want to tell her," she began again, "That I was lucky to have a mother who cared so much about her family, and who loved us with all of her heart."

At that, Molly's cries became louder.

"Mrs. Weasley, we can stop and take a break if you'd like," said Aquila.

Molly shook her head. Arthur Weasley put his arm around his wife and squeezed her shoulders.

"Please keep going," he said softly, with a tear in his eye.

Aquila cleared her throat and continued.

"To my father, Arthur Weasley, I leave the sum of 5,000 galleons, and request that he uses a portion of the money to take muggle airplane flight lessons."

"To my brother, William Weasley, I leave his first dragon tooth earring, that I rescued from the rubbish bin when Mum told him that she had "lost" it while cleaning it."

"To my brother, Charles Weasley, I leave the stuffed dragon that he gave me when I turned 12"

"To my brother, Ronald Weasley, I leave my broomstick and quidditch gear, in the hopes that he can teach his own children how to play, in the event he gets off his arse and tells Hermione Granger how he feels."

"To my brother, Percy Weasley, I leave my favorite joke cauldron, and an apology for the time that George and I sent dung to his Ministry mailbox."

"To my sister, Ginevra Weasley, I leave a love potion, in the event that she and Harry are still pretending that the shouldn't be together, and remind her that she is the bravest, most intelligent sister that a man could ever ask for."

Aquila conjured the items out of the air one by one, each item landing in the laps of the Weasleys.

"And finally, to my brother, George Weasley, I leave a letter."

Aquila conjured the still sealed letter out of the air, where George took it, a look of confusion on his face.

"Does it say anything else about me?" he asked.

"No, I'm sorry," replied Aquila. "That's the end of the will. If you'd like to take a moment to speak to each other, I'll leave you for a few minutes."

Every member of the family was crying now, and she conjured fresh tissues for them before excusing herself.

She quickly ran outside, barely making it out the door before she began to sob.

" _That family looked so broken,",_ she thought.

It broke her heart a little, every time she read a will. But this one cleaved her heart in two. She wondered what the letter to the man's twin had said. As much as she would like to, she would never be able to ask.

—

As soon as Aquila had left her office, Molly wiped her eyes and turned to George.

"Are you going to open it?"

He shook his head. "Not right now. I want to be alone when I do."

Molly nodded and set down the mug of tea she had been clutching. "I understand, love. If you need to talk to anyone after you read it, let us know."

The door opened gently, and Eliza entered with fresh tea and tissues. "I'm afraid Ms. Malfoy is unable to see you out. She requested that I check on you and see if you need anything else."

Molly stood and shook her head. "I think we're fine, dear, thank you. We'll be leaving now."

The rest of the family silently stood, each holding an item in their hands. While they slowly filed out of the office to the floo fireplaces, George hung back.

"I'm going to stay in Diagon Alley and check on the shop. Verity has never opened by herself. I'll stop by later."

Arthur hugged his son and nodded. Molly squeezed his hand, and patted his cheek. "Of course, sweetheart."

George watched his family enter the fireplace and shout "The Burrow!", each disappearing in a flash of green.

After they had all gone, he left the office, finding himself on the bustling street. Turning a sharp corner next to the building, he entered an empty back alley and pulled the letter out of his pocket. Breaking the thick wax seal, he took the parchment out of the envelope, and began to read.

 _"Hiya Gred. Well, if you're reading this letter, it looks like I kicked it. Hopefully I went out in a blaze of glory._

 _I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't tell you about the will. And why you only got a letter when everyone else got some of my stuff._

 _I didn't tell you, because I didn't want you to worry. And I felt like if I told you, that would make it real. And that would make it harder to be brave. I'm sorry that I said to wait 3 years, but I wanted to give everyone time to heal. I thought that it would be too fresh if I had my will read right away._

 _I love you, George. You're my best friend and my brother. And if I know you at all, I know that you're still stuck in grief. You need to move on, and I'm going to help you do it._

 _If I died during Voldemort's reign, then I died too young. I didn't get to do a lot of stuff I was planning. So here are my final requests. My first request - finish my bucket list. Finish doing all of the wild things that I was going to, since I no longer can. My other request - don't do it alone. Find someone, anyone, and take them on this adventure with you. Make a friend, do something crazy. Live a little. You don't have to do this alone._

 _I'm okay, George. Wherever I am, I'm okay. I promise. And remember. I'm always with you._

 _Your brother,_

 _Forge"_

George watched a long piece of paper that had been attached to the back of the letter flutter down. Bending over to pick it up, he felt fresh tears form in his eyes when he noticed the paper said "Fred's Bucket List" at the top. With his eyes downcast, he began to scan the list. George continued walking down the alley, too anxious to stop moving at the moment.

As he turned another corner, her heard soft crying. Aquila Malfoy was sat on the ground, her arms wrapped tightly around herself.

Upon hearing his footsteps, she looked up, startled. Wiping her eyes, she stood slowly.

"Hi"

A/N

I'm happy people enjoyed chapter 1! I'm planning on switching off between Aquila and George's perspectives, but it will always be third person. Hope you like chapter 2!


	3. Chapter 3

"Hi"

George simply stared at her.

"I'm sorry," Aquila started, "This must look so unprofessional. I was just getting some air."

George plucked a worn tissue out of his pocket.

"Here," he said, stepping forward and handing it to her.

She dabbed at her eyes. "Thank you," she murmured, "I appreciate it."

George sat down next to her.

"Aren't you used to it?" he asked, clasping his hands together.

"What, the will reading?" she said, snorting a little.

He nodded.

"Not really," she said, shaking her head, "It hurts everytime. Every single time I see the loss in their eyes, it kills me a little bit."

She trailed off and stared at the brick wall of the alley.

"It's the guilt," she said.

"What?"

" _The guilt_ is the worst part. That never seems to fade. No matter what I seem to do," she said, still looking at the wall, searching for answers that it would never give.

"You shouldn't feel guilty," said George, "You didn't do anything."

She kicked at the ground, spraying a small amount a dirt. "You're right. I didn't do anything. I could have saved people. I could have fought. But I didn't. I didn't do anything."

She balled her hand into a fist and looked down.

"Sometimes," she said furiously, looking back up at him, "Doing nothing is just bad as doing wrong."

George played with envelope in his hands, unsure of how to respond to her sudden emotional outburst.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out suddenly, "I'm sorry about your brother."

"Thanks," said George, giving her a tired smile. A few seconds passed slowly. "I read his letter."

Aquila handed him back the tissue. "Then I think you might need this more than I do."

George gave a small chuckle and tucked the tissue back in his pocket. "He wants me to finish his bucket list."

"Are you going to do it?" she said, turning to him with raised eyebrows.

"Fred is my brother," stated George, matter of factly. "It's what a have to do."

"You're a good brother," she said quietly.

" _He_ was the good brother," said George, "He knew. He knew that I would be too sad and lonely get over his death. He said that this would be a good way for me to start moving on."

"It's funny, isn't it?" Aquila mused. "How people know us so well like that. Even when they're gone. I'm not sure what I would do if Draco left me the same request, though."

"I'm sure if your brother asked you, you'd do the same thing," he said.

"Maybe," Aquila said thoughtfully. "Malfoys aren't exactly known for being good people, though."

"You seem like a good person to me."

She laughed out loud at that, George smiling at her uninhibited response.

"I'm serious," he said, still smiling, "A bad person wouldn't feel guilt about the war. And they certainly wouldn't let someone give them a sob story in a grimey alley."

"To be fair, I think I gave you more of a sob story than you gave me," Aquila said, returning his smile. "But maybe you're right."

George looked at her then. Really, looked at her, as if he was trying to look directly into her soul. She looked as tired as he did. Even smiling, she still looked sad. The gray eyes that looked so cold and menacing on the rest of her family looked warm and genuine on her. He watched her tuck a long strand of blonde hair behind her ear. As different as they were, a Weasley and a Malfoy, they seemed to share the same combination of loss, sadness, and survivor's guilt.

He could hear the words from Fred's letter echoing in his ears. _"Find someone, anyone, and take them on this adventure with you."_

 _"Alright Fred,"_ he thought, _"You asked me to do something crazy, well here goes nothing."_

"Come with me."

She looked at him in confusion.

"Come with you were?"

George looked slightly nervous now, his impulsiveness fading fast.

"Finish my brother's bucket list with me," he said quickly.

For several moments, Aquila was too surprised to say anything.

And then she shocked both herself and George Weasley.

"Okay."

George hadn't expected that answer.

"Really?" he asked in surprised.

She grabbed his hands and looked into his eyes. "I'm 22 years old. And I've never done _anything_ impulsive in my entire life. Ever. I've always been too scared, too cautious."

She stopped talking and let her hands fall away. "If I can help you with your brother's last request, I owe it to him. I owe it to all of the people who I didn't help."

"What about your job?" George asked.

"I haven't taken a sick day or vacation since I started here, 5 years ago. They've been trying to get me to take a few months off and relax for the last year," Aquila said. "What about your work? Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes can't function without a Weasley."

"I've got an employee who's been there since the beginning, knows the ins and outs. Plus, my younger brother has mentioned being interested in learning more about the business."

"Ron, right?"

George nodded. "How did you know?"

Aquila's cheeks reddened. "My brother _may_ have mentioned him a few times."

"I almost forgot that our families hated each other," he chuckled.

"Yeah, me too," said Aquila with a light laugh. "Merlin, it used to drive me _bonkers_. All my father and brother could talk about was "Weasley this" and "Potter that".

George laughed with her. "I don't think we went a day without my father coming home and saying "Let me tell you what Lucius Malfoy said today."

"I never understood it," Aquila said, "I always tried to find a logical reason why my father hated your father. But there isn't one. My father is just a prejudiced person."

Once again, George looked uncomfortable and rubbed the back of his neck

She looked at him quite seriously then, her head tilted slightly, a stray pail strand of hair falling into her eyes.

"I am sorry, though," she said. "For how my family has treated yours."

"Don't start crying again," George said, nudging her gently.

Aquila laughed out loud again, stopping suddenly as the door behind her opened and Eliza stepped out.

"Aquila, your 11 o'clock is here," she said, slightly frazzled. "I stalled for as long as I could, but they're getting antsy up there."

The blonde witch swore and jumped up.

"I'll be right there, thanks Eliza."

Eliza nodded, and granted George a quick smile before returning inside.

"I'm sorry," Aquila apologized quickly. "I need to get back to work."

"I understand," said George. "I should get back to the shop too."

"I'll owl you then, and we can figure out details later for the bucket list?", she said cautiously, as if she was certain he would change his mind.

"Sure," he said, standing up and dusting himself off. "And Aquila?

"Yeah?"

"I haven't wreaked havoc in years. I'm looking forward to causing a little mayhem."

"Me too," she whispered with a slightly wicked grin, before disappearing inside.

George turned and walked towards the entrance of the alley. Strolling towards Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, he smiled, feeling more like his old self than he had in 3 years.

A/N

2 chapters in one day (thank you, lazy Sunday)! This chapter is a little on the shorter side, but I've found that I tend to end scenes on what I feel is a "natural ending", as opposed to trying to hit a certain word count. Please review/favorite if you like, it truly means the world to me. - Kathryn


	4. Chapter 4

A/N - I own nothing but my OCs, Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling.

Thank you everyone for your kind reviews! I genuinely appreciate the time you take to read and review.

Emotional inspiration from -

" _I'll love you forever,_

 _I'll like you for always,_

 _As long as I'm living_

 _My baby you'll be."_

 _-Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch_

 _Crack_

Aquila apparated onto the front step and unlocked her door, running her hands tiredly through her hair.

The rest of the afternoon had been a strange one after agreeing to go on this mad adventure with George Weasley.

When she told Eliza at the end of the day, the dark haired witch had been a strange combination of shocked and enthusiastic, her dark brown curls bouncing as she excitedly shook Aquila by the shoulders.

"This is going to be amazing!" she had nearly squealed. "If you don't want to stay in hotels the whole time, I've got a tent you can use, and it's got a pretty nice set up - two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen."

Aquila had at first watched her with interest, as she paced around the roomtalking to herself, "We'll tell everyone you're taking a leave of absence to travel, no lie there...you'll also need to take out a good bit of gold at Gringotts since foreign banking can be a mess..and of course, I'll look after your apartment for you...OH, and -

"ELIZA!"

Eliza nearly ran into the desk, looking up with a sudden jerk.

"Look, I appreciate your help, but you're starting to stress me out here." Aquila said, fiddling with her hair.

Eliza looked at her questioningly. "Didn't you think about this before you said yes?"

"Em…not exactly. I didn't think, I just said yes." Aquila responded, tugging more at her hair.

Eliza gaped at her. "But you've never done anything like that, as long as I've known you!", she spluttered. "You won't even go out for an after-work drink at The Witch's Wart if it's not on your calendar weeks in advance!"

"I know, I know!" cried Aquila, now pulling on her hair with such ferocity that several blonde strands had fallen to the floor, "I should owl him right now and tell him I can't."

"YOU CAN'T!" Eliza shouted, so loudly that Sal let out a loud squawk and nearly fell off of his perch. "You can't." she said again, this time more calmly. "Why did you say yes in the first place?"

Aquila chewed her lip. "Because I thought it would take away some of the guilt. And I guess...I guess I thought that it was time I get off my arse and do something." Aquila paused. "It felt _good_ to do something courageous."

"Everytime you get scared or want to back out," Eliza said seriously, leveling her gaze with Aquila's. "Just remember those feelings. Remember how it felt to say yes to helping someone."

Aquila sighed and rubbed her temples resolutely. "You're right. _Merlin_ , what am I going to do without you?"

Bumping Aquila's hip with her own, Eliza smiled at her. "You'll figure it out. Come on, now that you're a daredevil, we can take an unscheduled trip to the pub."

Eliza had helped her write out a letter to each of the partners, explaining that she would be taking an uncertain amount of time off to travel. Tapping her fingers in the table, Aquila nervously waited for a response. Although they had told her to take time off, actually doing it was terrifying.

"What if they changed their minds?", she asked.

Eliza licked a striped of butterbeer foam from her upper lip. "They won't. Everything will work out fine."

Fortunately, her friend was right. Only a half hour after sending the owl, she received a single response, signed by Churching, Hawkins, and Twittering.

" _Dear Ms. Malfoy,_

 _We are pleased to read that you have taken our advice in regards to taking time off. We will hold your position for you upon your return._

 _Enjoy your holiday,_

 _Robert Churching, Helen Hawkins, and Catherine Twittering"_

The two had spent the rest of the night enjoying the summer air on the cozy patio of The Witch's Wart, planning what Aquila would need over a few frosted glasses of Butterbeer.

Finally entering her home after what had seemed to be one of the longest days in her life, Aquila tiredly dropped on to her most comfortable couch. A deep emerald color, it had been a gift from her mother upon her purchase of the large flat the summer prior. Gently running her hands over the velvet upholstery, she thought back to the day her mother had appeared with it on her doorstep.

 _Hagard_

That was her first thought when she had opened the door that day. At that point, it had been nearly a year since she had last seen either of her parents, and the contrast was startling. Although Narcissa was still dressed in rich burgundy robes, the once striking woman who had gifted her daughter with the same high cheekbones and proud face appeared to have aged 10 years instead of the 1 that had passed.

The years following the war had not been kind to Narcissa, or Lucius, for that matter. Although her parents had been pardoned by the Ministry for defecting from the Death Eaters in the eleventh hour, their assistance of the Dark Lord had not been forgotten by the rest of the wizarding population. They had been shunned by society and therefore had become quite reclusive. It was fortunate that their family wealth had been so extensive, as it was unlikely that Lucius or Narcissa would ever work again.

Staring at her mother with a surprised expression, Aquila had said nothing upon opening the door.

Narcissa opened her mouth and closed it, words seeming to fail her.

Finally finding her voice, Aquila said suspiciously, "What are you doing here?"

Her mother seemed to falter again. "I heard you bought a flat," she said, gesturing behind her, "I thought that you might need some furniture."

Behind her was a house elf wearing a simple blue dress with "Fabris & Falletti Co." emblazoned on it. Holding aloft a large, wrapped piece of furniture, the elf watched her mother cautiously with its wide eyes, no doubt knowing her mother by reputation alone.

Aquila paused at the door. She didn't particularly want to see her mother, but knowing the woman, the gift was most likely something highly extravagant. _Didn't she deserve something nice at her parents expense, after everything they had put her through?_

Considering this, she stepped back, allowing her mother and the elf into the flat. Once the package was inside, the elf squeaked, "Where to, Miss?"

"Over there is fine", Aquila said, indicating to the empty living room.

The house elf snapped her fingers, and the wrapping disappeared to reveal a dark green, high backed fainting couch. Aquila had to give credit where credit was due, her mother did know how to pick out beautiful furniture.

Leaving the couch in front of the fireplace, thouse elf bowed to them both and with a high-pitched "Goodbye", disappeared with a loud crack.

Aquila crossed her arms and turned back to her mother, a cool look in her eyes. "Is there anything else you wanted?"

"Yes."

She waited, but her mother said nothing. Narcissa looked at her as if the words she needed simply didn't exist. A minute slowly ticked past, and as Aquila began to turn away from her mother, the woman suddenly lurched forward.

"Please," Narcissa said, grasping Aquila's hands with her own frail ones. "Give me the chance to apologize. Give me the chance to make it right."

"I gave you that chance _every_ day of my life. _Every. Single. Day_ ," Aquila whispered with cold fury.

"Aquila, I'm sorr-"

"I'd like you to leave."

"Aquila-

Aquila turned her nose up and glared at her mother. "I said, I'd like you to leave."

Narcissa seemed to crumble at that, face falling. " _Please",_ she whispered again, her voice cracking slightly.

Aquila closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The rage that had been brewing beneath the surface for twenty odd years begged to be released. She pushed it down, and took another breath.

"Leave."

Narcissa let go of her hands ands took a step away. Seeing a tear on her mother's face, Aquila was slightly taken aback. Her mother was never one to cry, or to show emotion at all. Aquila had learned everything about locking away emotions from watching her.

"I know you despise me," Narcissa said softly, "but I love you. And I will _always_ love you."

And with that, her mother turned on the spot and disappeared.

Aquila had sunk onto the couch and lay down, resting her cheek on the soft velvet. She felt the material grow damp under her face, only realizing then that she was crying.

A full year had passed since that day, and she had had no contact with her parents since then.

Now, she stood up and shook her head fiercely, attempting to shake that memory from her brain. She had wanted to tell her mother off, to scream at her, to throw something, to rant and rage and show emotion without the threat of punishment looming over her head. She shook her head again. There was no time to think about that now. After all, she had a letter to write.

Moving to her room, she pulled two pieces of parchment out of her desk and stared at them. Unstopping a pot of ink and taking a quill from her drawer, she chewed on the tip of it.

" _Merlin's beard, I have no idea what to say to him,"_ she thought to herself.

Several minutes passed and she dipped the quill into the ink, pausing again. She pressed the tip of it to the paper and wrote out a single line.

The words seemed to flow easier with the next piece of parchment in front of her.

" _Dear Draco,_

 _I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've visited. I hope Astoria is well. I'm writing to you now because I'm going away for a while. To tell you the truth, I agreed to help George Weasley finish his brother's bucket list. Don't give me that look Draco, really. It's quite unbecoming. I know you won't understand, but I had to do this._

 _Do you remember that time we stole Father's magic carpet? I was 12, and you were 10. I don't know, maybe you were too young to remember now. I told you that we could do whatever you wanted, and you said that you wanted to ride his magic carpet, because you were young and foolish and you didn't know what the world was really made of. I was terrified. Do you remember? You distracted Father while I stole it from his office. We took the carpet to the roof of the house and threw the it over the side of the house. It started falling towards the ground faster than I thought it could. And then, we jumped off the edge._

 _It caught us of course, but I was so scared. When I looked at you, though, you were laughing. Do you remember that? You laughed so hard that you started to cry. And the I started laughing so hard that I began to cry as well. And we just sat on that magic carpet, a hundred feet up, laughing and crying, while Father shouted at us from the ground._

 _I want to feel that again, Draco. I want to laugh so hard that I cry. I want to live._

 _I promise to send you souvenirs. Wish me luck._

 _Be good,_

 _Your sister_

Met with a grumpy hoot when she attempted to awaken her eagle owl, Athena, Aquila offered her some owl treats and said, "Take this one to George Weasley, alright? Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, on Diagon Alley. And then this one to Draco."

Athena gave another hoot, less surly this time and gently nipped at her owner's fingers. Aquila opened the window of her bedroom, and Athena took flight, disappearing after a few seconds. She thought of the letter she had just sent to George, and wondered if she should had written something more. Changing into her pajamas and crawling into bed, she closed her eye, seeing the text she had written just a few minutes prior.

" _So, when do we leave?_

 _\- A_

—

A/N - I know this chapter wasn't super interesting, but I since Aquila is an OC, I really wanted to flesh out some more of her backstory. I am planning on them starting their adventure in either the next chapter or the one following. I've got a good sized list started for the "bucket list", but if there's anything particular you'd like to see them experience or do, let me know! Thanks again for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N - I own nothing but my OCs

—

George had a spring to his step as he left Aquila behind. Walking back to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, he thought about what had just occurred. _Bloody hell, he was going to travel around the world with a girl he had just met, and a Malfoy nonetheless._ She seemed much kinder than the rest of them, however he could tell that there was still a wall up around her.

As he opened the door to the shop, a voice called, "Good Aftern- oh! Hello, Mr. Weasley!"

Verity stood behind the checkout counter ringing up a line of customers.

"It _is_ a good afternoon, isn't it?" he said, smiling at her.

She returned his smile, albeit slightly confused, as he stepped to the register next to her and called for the next customer.

The afternoon rush eventually let up as it came to closing time, and Verity turned to George. "I have to say Mr. Weasley, and I hope you don't think I'm overstepping here…" she paused.

George nodded at her to go on.

"It's just that you seem very happy for someone who was just at a will reading," she said quickly, as if blurting it out faster made it easier for her to say.

"Actually, I want to talk to you about that," replied George. "After we close, I'll explain what happened."

"Of course, Mr. Weasley," said Verity.

The witch busied herself for the rest of the evening, wondering what it was that had happened at the will reading. Finally, she turned off the open sign and locked the front door. Entering the back room, she found George going over the product sales from the last week.

"So," he began, gesturing for her to sit down, "Today was my last day in the shop for a while. Fred left me a letter with a final request. And I'm going to be taking time off to complete it."

"How long will you be gone?"

"That's the thing. It could be a few months, it could be a year," he said.

"A whole year?" said Verity, slightly surprised. After all, this store was his life.

George nodded. "While I'm gone, I would like you to take over my position."

Verity's slight surprise turned to full on shock.

"You want me to...take over?"

"Just while I'm gone. Of course I'll increase your salary to compensate. And you can hire some more shop assistants. And since this is on such short notice, I'm going to ask some of the family to help out until you get some more people hired," he said, concerned she would refuse the offer.

Neither said anything for a few moments.

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley!", she said excitedly. "I won't let you down!"

"Here, I've run the books out on the sales projections for the next month or so. This should make things easier."

Verity quickly skimmed over the books, making a few notes for herself.

"I won't let you down," she said again brightly.

George stood, and walked to the shop fireplace. Taking some green powder out of a small sack, he turned back to her.

"I know you'll do great. I'd buy you a celebratory drink, but I have to meet my family and explain the situation to them. Owl me if you need anything, alright?"

Verity stood. "Good luck, Mr. Weasley. And whatever Mr. Weasley's last request was, well, you look happier than I've seen you in years."

George cracked a grin, and stepped into the fireplace. Throwing the powder down, he cried, "The Burrow!"

With a whoosh, he arrived at his family home, stepping out of the fireplace and dusting himself off.

"George is here!" shouted his father, standing up to hug him. His mother called back from the kitchen, announcing that now that the whole family was here, they could finally eat dinner. Bill, Charlie, and Ron all cheered loudly at that.

George hugged Arthur back as he looked around the rest of the room. The entire Weasley family was scattered about the living room, sipping on glasses of Firewhiskey.

Bill clapped him on the shoulder and shoved a drink into his hand.

"Mum's been making us go around and tell our favorite stories of Fred," he said into George's ear, "better drink up."

George took a seat in between Charlie and Percy, taking a large gulp of the Firewhiskey.

Percy turned to him, with a slightly affronted air.

"I can't believe after all this time, it was you two who sent me dung."

Charlie spit out some of his drink and began laughing loudly.

George snorted, remembering the prank. "In our defense, you were being an utter _prat_ that summer."

Percy began chuckling as well. "You're probably right about that. I was a prat for most of my life."

"I'd say you still are," smirked Ginny from across the room.

Percy used his wand to make a large pillow fly at her head. He laughed as she attempted to duck out of the way by doing a dive roll, but only managed to spill drink down her front.

"Ginny, dear, what _are_ you doing?", asked Molly, as she entered the living room with several hovering trays of food.

"Nothing, Mum," she said, siphoning the liquid off her jumper.

As soon as Molly's back was turned, however, she sent Percy a rude hand gesture.

Filling his plate and taking a large bite of fresh bread, George looked around the room. Everything seemed so _normal_. Celestina Warbeck playing in the radio, everyone laughing and joking together. It felt like a lifetime ago, the last time they had all been this happy. Fred had been right. They needed time process not just his death, but the deaths of all of their other friends. George continued to eat, listening in on the various conversations they were having.

"You don't understand, Marin is the greatest seeker since Krum," Ron was saying to Charlie, as he gestured wildly.

Charlie shook his head emphatically. "Come off it, Ron! Marin couldn't catch a snitch in a roomful of snitches. Raghaven is the seeker to beat."

On the other side of the room, his father and Bill were discussing the latest changes to the laws regarding foreign wizarding imports, while his mother and Ginny chatted about her new position as chaser for the Holyhead Harpies.

After everyone had finished their supper and the conversations had lulled, he thought, " _Well, now is the time to do it."_

George stood and cleared his throat. "I have an announcement to make."

"Is this about the letter from Fred?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah, it is," he said, and paused. "Fred asked me to finish his bucket list. And I'm leaving soon to do it."

"What about the shop?" asked Arthur .

George turned to look at him. "Verity is going to take over, but she's going to need some aid until she can get a few assistants hired. I was hoping some of you would be able to help out for a bit."

"I'll do it," said a voice behind him.

George turned back around. "You, Perc?"

Percy looked sheepish. "I've been feeling...less than fulfilled at the Ministry. I think this would be a good opportunity to expand my horizons and look for another position. Of course," he said, his slightly pompous attitude returning, "I'll provide you with my latest resume and several character references."

"Percy, you don't need to do that," laughed George, "you're hired."

"And I'm available if you need an extra hand," said Ron.

"Me too," said Ginny.

"I wish you weren't leaving," said Molly with a small smile, "but I'm not going to try and stop you from finishing Fred's bucket list. Just promise me that you'll be safe."

George smiled back at her. "I promise."

He was glad she wasn't crying at that. His mother was an incredibly kind hearted person, sometimes feeling so much for both her biological and surrogate children that she could barely hold it in.

"Another thing," he began. _This was going to be the hard part._ "I'm going with Aquila Malfoy."

After a few seconds of silence, they erupted.

"Who?

"The lawyer?"

"Malfoy?"

"Is that a girl?"

" _Malfoy?!_ "

"Oi!" shouted Charlie, "shut it and let him talk."

The Weasleys quieted and stared at him.

"I asked her after I read the letter. Fred said he wanted me to take someone with me."

"But, why did you ask _her_?" asked his father.

George didn't have a good answer for that. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. He couldn't really explain why it felt like to right thing to do, it just did.

"She's a Malfoy," said Ginny bitterly.

"Aquila is a good person," George said firmly.

"George, you've only known her for a few hours. How could you know that she's a good person?" Bill said cautiously.

"And how do you know this isn't part of some evil Malfoy plan?" questioned Ron.

"She's not evil," George said again.

Unfortunately, this had been the reaction he had expected. After years upon years of torment and ridicule at the hands of Lucius and Draco, as well as their assistance of Voldemort, the Weasleys weren't exactly fans the Malfoy family. But they hadn't seen her in that alley. They hadn't seen her cry and mourn for a boy that she never knew, for a family she had just met.

"Love, I'm sure she's not evil," said Molly gently, "I think we're all just worried because we don't know her."

"And because she's a Malfoy!" shouted Ginny.

"Maybe she's trying to steal the shop," said Ron.

"You always tell me to trust my instincts, Mum," said George frustratedly, "and my instincts say that she hasn't had an easy life. She needs a friend. And right now, so do I."

Ron and Ginny looked slightly ashamed at that.

"I'm going with Aquila. I don't care if you don't understand it or you don't like it. She said she wants to help me because she needs to make up for all the people she didn't help during the war. And I believe her."

"Of course, you do what you think is best, dear," said Molly soothingly. "When are you two leaving?"

"As soon as possible, I guess. Maybe tomorrow."

"Where are you going?" said Bill.

George took the list out of his pocket and unfolded it. "I haven't even thought about that. I'm not really sure where to start."

His family gathered around and read over the list of adventures and tasks that George and Aquila would be completing.

"That one," said Ginny, pointing at the list.

"Yeah," said Ron, "number three."

The rest of them echoed the same sentiments.

George stared at the words for a minute. "You're right," he said with a bittersweet smile.

He folded the list and was about to put it back in his pocket when Ginny cried, "Wait!"

She took the parchment from him. "Impervious," she said, tapping it with her wand.

"There," she said with a sly grin. "Now you can do number eight without it getting ruined."

"Thanks, Gin," said George.

He looked around at his family, taking in their smiles for as long as he could. It would be some time before he would see them again.

"I need to pack, and talk to Aquila about when we're leaving," he said, getting ready to leave.

His mother hugged him tightly and whispered, "Take as much time as you need, Georgie. Find yourself again."

He tried to put every emotion that he was feeling into that hug, squeezing her tightly.

The rest of his family gathered around, each hugging him and giving him a piece of advice. He gave Ginny a slight dig in the ribs when she said, "Remember, Malfoys are extremely susceptible to the Bat-Bogey Hex." although it did make him laugh.

After saying his goodbyes, he stepped in the fireplace and flooed back to his flat. He began packing his bag, thankful that Hermione had taught him the extension charm that had helped her, Ron, and Harry so much during the war. George threw clothes for both warm weather and cold in the knapsack, as well as several pairs of shoes, a jacket, and his other daily essentials. Muttering "Reducio", he shrunk his broomstick to to a size that could easily fit in his palm. As he began gathering miscellaneous items from around his flat, he heard a tapping in his kitchen.

When he entered the room, he saw a large owl waiting at his window. George quickly opened it, and the owl flew in, ruffling her feathers. She carefully dropped the letter on the counter and sat there calmly, watching him with large brown eyes.

George opened the letter and read the single question. He smiled to himself as he wrote his response.

" _I picked out our first bucket list mission. I have a tent, but you should pack some food, clothes, and everything you'll need for months of travelling around the world. Meet me tomorrow outside WWW at 11:00AM. And by the way, thanks again._

 _\- G_

George stuffed the parchment into an envelope and tied it the owl's leg, sending her on her way. He had mixed emotions about what they were going to do tomorrow. While he felt some excitement, it was so strange to do this without his twin. They had caused such mischief and made so many memories while at Hogwarts, he hadn't been able to make himself go back after Fred had been murdered there. But now here he was, finally returning.

" _This is what Fred wants,"_ he thought. " _This is why he left me that list."_

After confirming that he was completely packed, George lay down in his bed. He smiled to himself a little, thinking about their first task. When Ginny had pointed it out, he realized it was perfect. They were going to challenge McGonagall to a dance off.

A/N - Aaaaaaand they're off! Well, almost off. I hope you found the first bucket list thing funny, I'm trying to keep a good balance between fun and angst. I hope you enjoy this chapter! - Kathryn


	6. Chapter 6

A/N - I own nothing but my OCs. HP is property of JK Rowling.

As I said before, I am writing this from third person limited POV, and the POV will switch between the two every chapter. This chapter is Aquila's POV.

Aquila shivered as the air hit her skin. It wasn't particularly cool that day, but she was already on edge. Pushing her hair out of her face, she looked up at the brightly colored store in front of her. She paused, unsure if she she wait for George or enter the store.

" _Just go in,"_ she thought, and wrapped her fingers around the handle. She couldn't make herself move, however. It was as if someone had hit her with the body-bind curse while she wasn't looking.

" _JUST. GO. IN."_ she thought again, gritting her teeth and gripping the handle tighter.

The door in front of her whooshed open, and Aquila jumped back.

"You're late," George said, adjusting his backpack.

"I'm sorry, I hope it wasn't an inconvenience," she said, looking down and shifting on her feet. "I promise I won't be late again."

George looked slightly bemused. "I was joking. You're right on time."

Aquila's cheeks flared. "A joke, of course. I knew that."

"So, are you ready?"

She squinted up at him, the sun momentarily blinding her. She took a step to her right and looked up again, this time taking in his full height. The rising sun now sat behind him, giving off such a bright light that it looked as if his hair was fiendfyre.

"Ready for what?"

"For the first day of the rest of our lives."

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, trying to look more sure of herself than she felt. "Ready."

"We're going to challenge one of my old professors to a dance off."

Aquila laughed. "I can't imagine challenging Madame Maxime to a dance off."

"McGonagall might faint from shock when we ask her. She's not exactly known as the "fun" professor," he said with a smile. "Come on, we can apparate around the corner."

George took off and began striding along the cobblestones, weaving through the groups of witches and wizards.

"Are we going to Hogwarts?" Aquila asked, catching up next to him.

"Yeah, but we can't apparate directly in because of security, so we'll have to apparate into Hogsmeade. Here - ." he stopped abruptly outside a deserted alley.

"You're going to have to describe it to me then," she said. "I've never been there."

George looked at her. "Sometimes I forget that you didn't go there. We can always do side along."

Aquila nodded and grasped George's forearm.

"I've never done side along before. Hopefully you don't get splinched," he said with an impish grin, turning on the spot before she had a chance to realize what he had just said.

With a pop, they appeared in Hogsmeade Village.

Aquila glared at him. "Never done side along apparation? I could have lost an arm. Or a leg."

"If you lost an ear, then we'd match!"

She continued to scowl at him, crossing her arms.

"I've done side along before. C'mon, it was a joke. You know, that thing people do when they're trying to make someone laugh?" he said.

"Oh," was all she said, suddenly flustered and uncomfortable. "I'm sorry."

"No."

She looked at him, unsure. "No, what?"

"Don't be sorry," he said with a shrug. "You didn't do anything wrong. Look, I'll try to lessen my jokes about the serious things, like mamings and limb loss, alright?"

Aquila gave him a small smile. "Thank you."

"It's this way," George said, and began walking down the street.

She followed after him, looking around then and taking in her surroundings. They had apparated in a small village that looked like it had been plucked right out of a children's fairytale. Picturesque cottages with thatched roofs and high chimneys were interwoven with various shop fronts advertising new quills and sweets.

"This is amazing," she said softly.

"It is," said George, surveying the village as well. "Fred and I always wanted to open up a second location here."

"Why haven't you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, After Fred died, I guess I just didn't really want to think about it anymore."

"It must be hard," she said. "Coming back here."

George looked down. "This is the first time I've been back since it happened. I just couldn't make myself go back afterwards. It hurt too much, seeing the place he died."

The pair quietly entered the Hogwarts grounds, Aquila admiring the enormous castle. As they walked closer to the front gate, she noticed a large tree planted near the entrance. Tall, and with long white branches, they stopped to look at it. It was then that she saw that there was a name carved into each of the branches.

 _Colin Creevey - Age 16, Lavender Brown - Age 17, Remus Lupin - Age 38._

Looking down, she read the carved inscription on the trunk of the tree.

" _For the families who will never hold each other again,_

 _For the children who will never grow up,_

 _For the ones who will never see the sunrise,_

 _For all of those who gave their lives to save the world."_

Aquila felt tears prick her eyes, for the people she didn't know and would never know. Turning, she saw George staring at a branch.

 _Fred Weasley - Age 20._

She had no idea how to make people feel better, after shutting her emotions down for so long. Eliza had once told her that watching her attempt to comfort someone was like watching a Hippogriff do a two-step. Awkward and slightly unnatural.

Aquila stepped forward and placed her hand on George's shoulder. "I'm sure he fought bravely."

"He did. Bravest person I ever knew," he replied, still staring at the name.

She flicked her wand, and bouquet of gladiolus sprang from the tip. She gently placed them at the base of the tree. "Do you want to say something?"

"I don't really know what to say," he whispered.

They were silent for a few minutes.

"C'mon," he said, shaking himself out of his stupor. "We should go in."

Aquila turned back to look at the tree one last time as they entered the open gate and were met by an enormous man with a long, bushy beard. The man stooped and hugged George so tightly that he let out a slight yelp.

"Good to see you George. I got your owl this morning, but wasn't sure if you'd look around Hogsmeade for a bit," he said cheerfully.

Looking at Aquila, the man gave her an grin. "Rubeus Hagrid, gamekeeper and Professor of Care of Magical Creatures, at your service." He offered her an enormous hand, which she shook genially.

"Aquila Malfoy."

He gave her an appraising look. "Malfoy, ay? You wouldn't be related to Draco Malfoy, would ya?"

"My brother," she said, beginning to get nervous. This was a whole school of people who knew her brother and her family, and hated them.

"Ye know, yer brother caused me quite a bit o' headaches when he was 'ere," he said with a dark look.

She steadied herself. "I am sorry, Mr. Hagrid. For whatever my brother did."

The giant man barked a laugh. "Sorry, are ye? Then you're a right better person than the rest of your family, I'll wager."

He clapped her on shoulder with such force that she nearly feel over.

"You can call me Hagrid if you like. Don't know much about that 'Mr,' stuff", he said, leading them up to the doors of the castle.

Hagrid knocked on the large doors of the castle, and stepped back as they slowly opened.

"McGonagall doesn't usually come to lunch in the Great Hall, so I figure yer best bet is surprising her at dinner," he said.

"Thanks, Hagrid," said George.

"If yer hungry later, yer welcome to stop by later fer some tea and rock cakes," said Hagrid, beginning to leave.

"You know we will," said George. Once Hagrid was out of earshot, he said, "Unless you're interested in losing some teeth, we won't be eating those rock cakes later."

Looking up at the great doors, he stood there silently.

"Are we going in?" Aquila asked.

"Yeah," he said, still not moving.

She knew this had to be hard for him. Returning to the place that his brother had been murdered. _Merlin, she wished that she was better with people._

She stepped forward over the threshold and looked back at him, offering her hand.

"We're in this together."

For a few seconds, her hand simply hung there while George looked at it.

"Together," he said, reaching forward to grasp it.

Smiling, Aquila pulled him forward into the castle. Upon entering, however, she stopped immediately, mouth slightly agape.

"This place is beautiful," she said with a slight laugh, gazing around in wonder.

The light of the candles in the hallway cheerily flickered off of the stone walls. She dropped George's hand and pressed her palm to the cool stone.

"It's home," said George, the smile returning to his face. "We've got a couple hours. Let me show you around."

They spent the afternoon with George leading her through moving staircases and hallways that seemed to go on forever, continually stopping due to Aquila's slow pace. She admired the chatty paintings and even squealed with a combination of delight and fear when Peeves the Poltergeist zoomed past, shouting insults at them.

"We didn't have any poltergeists at Beauxbatons," she said, stopping to inspect a suit of armor.

"Did you have ghosts?" asked George.

"Oh yeah, but they never spoke."

"No?"

"Well, they were all mimes," said Aquila.

"Mimes, that's certainly...interesting."

Aquila turned around, a teasing grin on her face. "That was a joke, George."

He laughed, slightly surprised. "I wasn't aware that you were physically capable of telling a joke."

"Me either, but I guess you're rubbing off on me."

George laughed again, and they continued walking down the hall, stopping every few feet for George to point out a classroom, or give her a Hogwarts history lesson. He stopped at a small roped off area that enclosed a tiny swamp.

"This was the last prank Fred and I did while at Hogwarts. Turned this whole corridor into a swamp," he said, looking at the swamp happily. "I think that was one of the proudest days of my life, when Ron told us that Flitwick had called this a "good bit of magic" and left it here."

"Was there a particular reason why you turned the corridor into a giant swamp?"

"Is 'Dolores Umbridge' a good enough reason?"

Aquila grimaced. "She was a frequent dinner guest at our house. No further explanation needed."

Noticing something on the stone above the swamp, she stepped forward and squinted.

"Did you do that?" she said, pointing at the words that had been carved into the stone.

" _Fred Weasley was here,"_ George read out loud.

He began laughing hard. "Merlin, I completely forgot about that. In our second year, I dared him to write his name somewhere in the castle."

George shook his head, still marveling at the words. "It felt like a lifetime ago that he did that."

He stepped back, looking at the full picture of the miniature swamp and his brother's name above it.

"Are you alright?" Aquila asked softly.

"I didn't think I was going to be, but seeing this...it just makes me think of all of the good times that we had when we were younger. When we weren't afraid of Voldemort. When we could just cause some havoc and steal toilet seats," he said with a chuckle. "And I think that's what I need to focus on, you know? Remember the good times that made us who we are, not the bad."

As Aquila opened her mouth to agree, several doors opened and streams of students came flooding out. She caught snippets of their conversation as they moved past.

"- 3 roles of parchment, Flitwick must be _barking_ -"

"Mate, I _swear_ she was checking me out during class."

"- he said WHAT?!"

George nudged her. "We should head to the Great Hall. Supper is starting now."

He had begun leading the way when Aquila said, "What song are you going to dance to?"

"To be honest," he said, turning a corner, "I didn't even think about it. Why don't you pick?"

They entered the enormous hall after a few more turns, Aquila staring up at the floating candles and the ceiling that looked like it was the evening sky.

"That's her," said George in a low voice.

He pointed at an older woman with a shrewd, serious face who was sitting at the center of a high table.

"You're challenging _her_?" said Aquila. "That woman looks like she's never laughed a day in her life."

"It's what I have to do," George said, as he dropped his backpack on the floor and began walking toward the table. "On my signal, start the music."

He took a deep breath and yelled "PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL!"

The students quieted around him, staring in shock and interest.

The woman stood and calmly said, "It's _Headmistress_ McGonagall, Mr. Weasley, and may I ask _why_ you're interrupting supper?"

He turned to Aquila. "Now!"

She waved her wand, and a large stereo system appeared. Tapping it, music began flowing loudly out of the speakers.

" _Every night in my dreams_

 _I see you, I feel you_

 _That is how I know you, go on._ "

George pointed at McGonagall and called, "Dance off, Headmistress! This one's for Fred!"

He did a ballet twirl and spun with a surprising amount of grace.

"What is this?!" he yelled to Aquila over the music, wildly flapping his arms.

"It's from this muggle movie, called "Titanic"!" Aquila yelled back.

 _"Near, far, wherever you are_

 _I believe that the heart does go on_

 _Once more you open the door_

 _And you're here in my heart and my heart will go on and on."_

George dropped to the floor, flailing around as Headmistress McGonagall stepped down from the table and began walking towards them. When she reached the center of the room, he stood up and began doing flying leaps around her in a circle.

"This is for Fred?" she said with a slightly less frosty look.

"Oh yeah!" he yelled, doing a pirouette.

With a dry look, she raised her hands above her head, and began moving her feet.

The students and staff alike erupted into cheers and laughter, watching their usually serious headmistress perform a traditional Scottish jig.

Several muggle-born students stood up on their seats and began belting out the lyrics, so loud that Celine Dion could barely be heard over their wails of "MY HEART WILL GO OOON AND OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON"

Aquila doubled over in a fit of laughter, tears springing from her eyes after George began doing some strange version of an American line dance.

The hall continued to cheer as the last notes faded out, with Hagrid giving a loud wolf whistle as George bowed deeply to the audience.

"Well, Mr. Weasley," she said, slightly out of breath, "I believe a winner must be chosen."

George winked at her. "Right you are, Headmistress."

Aquila stepped forward and shouted, "Everyone who thinks George wins the dance off, make as much noise as you can!"

Students stomped their feet and screamed as loudly as they could.

"Now everyone who this Headmistress McGonagall won, make noise!"

The screams and cheers became so loud that George and Aquila clapped their hands over their ears.

McGonagall gave George a dry smile. "I think they have declared a winner."

She began walking back to the staff table, turning back to the two to say, "See me in my office after supper. And, as it happens, I am a fan of chocolate frogs."

George led Aquila to the Gryffindor table, where they were quickly granted spots. Students from other tables kept coming up to them, wanting to shake the hands of the people who had gotten McGonagall to let loose. While the students at the Gryffindor table had already heard the fantastical tales of the Weasley twins and were ecstatic to meet a Hogwarts legend, once they heard the name "Malfoy" come from Aquila's mouth, the table became noticeably cooler towards her.

"Why are you even here?" said a dark haired boy about fifteen or sixteen with an audible sniff. "I'm a muggle-born. Does that offend you?"

"No, no," Aquila said quickly. "I'm just here to help George."

"Do you want to kick me out of school and take my wand? Do you want to make me a slave, like your family and their friends wanted?" the boy said again, his voice rising.

"Your father had my parents fired from their jobs at the Ministry," said a blonde girl about the same age. She glowered at Aquila. "He claimed that they were stealing, but _your father_ told them to their faces that because of their blood status, they were not fit to work at the Ministry."

Aquila looked around at the faces surrounding her, a sea of fear and anger.

She began tugging on her hair, the chattering in the hall turning into a ringing in her ears. Her breathing quickened, the anxiety coursing through her.

" _Be brave,"_ she thought. " _Be strong. You are more than what they made you."_

George placed a hand on her shoulder and glared at the boy. "Back off, kid."

"It's okay," Aquila said to him.

She turned back to the students. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what my father has done. And for what my family has done. My father is prejudiced, your right. And he is a bad person. What he's done, how he has treated muggle-borns, it's unacceptable and inexcusable."

The girl glared at Aquila one more time, and stormed off.

The boy gave her a hard look at first, as if he was trying to determine if she was being genuine or not. After a minute, he nodded. "Thank you for saying that."

He offered his hand to her. "Jeremy."

She shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Jeremy."

Aquila dropped his hand and grabbed a fork. Her adrenaline was pumping so hard that she was shaking.

"So," George said, nudging her, "You're a muggle movie fan?"

She laughed and took a large bite of cottage pie. "Oh yeah. As much of a scaredy-cat as I wam, I went through a bit of a rebellious phase when I was sixteen. I started writing everything in that muggle invention called a 'pen' and my friends and I would sneak out every weekend to go to the cinema."

George broke out laughing. "That was your rebellious phase? Muggle pens and films?"

"Being raised by someone like my father, anything muggle was taboo!", she said indignantly. "I was caught coming out of a cinema by once, and it caused a family scandal!"

George continued to laugh at her and shake is head in wonder. "You know, I've only seen one film, in Muggle Studies class. It was all about these talking lions."

"Oh yeah, that's a good one," she said, taking another bite. "Eliza and I go to the cinema all the time. Her parents are both muggles, so she always knows the best films."

They spent a couple more hours finishing their food and pudding, while Aquila laughed with the rest of the table at George's jokes. She attempted to explain to a table of very confused witches and wizards the plot of a new movie she had seen where half of it was played in reverse order.

Eventually, George stood, and said, "Should we head to McGonagall's office?"

Aquila looked at the head table, she had been having such a good time talking to George, she hadn't noticed that the Headmistress' seat was no longer occupied.

She stood, gathering her pack, and George waved to the Gryffindors that were still seated. "It was good to meet you all. Remember to come to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes for all of your mischief making needs."

Aquila offered a small wave, which she was please to see was returned by most of the remaining table, including Jeremy.

"You did good back there, when those two confronted you," he said as they left the Great Hall.

"I thought about running away," she said truthfully.

"But you didn't."

She smiled. "But I didn't."

They arrived at a stone gargoyle, where George said "Chocolate frogs."

The gargoyle jumped aside, and they ascended the stairs. At the top, a crisp voice called, "Come in." after George knocked. They opened the door, and entered to find Headmistress McGonagall sitting at a large desk. Waving her wand, two hardback chairs appeared from nowhere. Aquila sat, with a feeling that they were somehow about to be issued several detentions.

"Mr. Weasley and Ms. -", McGonagall stopped, looking at Aquila.

"Malfoy," she said.

"Ms. Malfoy," she said, with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Would you like to explain now what that was all about?"

"Like I side Prof- erm, Headmistress. It was for Fred," said George. "We're finishing his bucket list."

McGonagall paused for a moment, and then gave them an understanding look. "That is as good of a reason as I ever heard. I'm certain that he would have loved to watch that display of frivolity."

"Thank you, Headmistress," said Aquila.

McGonagall nodded in acknowledgement. "Where are you off to next?"

George and Aquila looked at eachother. She shrugged. "It's up to you."

He smiled and looked back at McGonagall. "Off the coast of Greece. We're going to go swimming with sirens."

"Good luck then, you two," she said. "You'll need it."

McGonagall stood. "You can sleep here for the night. I've had Filch arrange two guest rooms for you."

A loud knock at the door sounded, and the door creaked open. A grumpy looking older man stood in the entrance, a cat at his heels.

"The rooms are ready, mum," he said, giving them a dark look.

"Thank you, Filch," said McGonagall. "Good night Mr. Weasley, Ms. Malfoy."

They thanked her again, and left with Filch. The man grumbled the entire way to the rooms, where he left them gruffly.

"What time should we leave?" asked Aquila.

George shrugged. "After breakfast. There's a seaside wizarding village that we can apparate to."

"Then I'll see you at breakfast," she said, turning the doorknob to her room.

"Wait," he said quickly.

Aquila took her hand of the knob and looked at him. He hugged her tightly, "Thank you, Aquila Malfoy."

She was still at first, only used to Eliza being the single person to hug her. Slowly, she unfroze and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank _you_ , George Weasley."

" _This is crazy,"_ she thought with an internal laugh. " _I'm hugging a man I barely know, after we challenged his headmistress to a dance off, and tomorrow, we're going to Greece."_

Enjoying the warmth of his embrace for a few more minutes, she stepped back, letting her arms drop.

"Good night," she said, opening her door.

"See you in the morning," said George, who was now looking slightly pink in the cheeks. Tiredly dropping her backpack on the floor and shutting the door, she yawned loudly. Crawling into the enormous four poster bed, she fell into the deepest sleep that she had ever had.

A/N - First adventure done! Personal update - I finally bought a new laptop, which means I can do my writing on editing on something that is not my phone. The only downside is that since I have to get use to a new keyboard, I noticed extra mistakes from the change. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to the next one. (Trip to Greece, woo!)


	7. Chapter 7

I own nothing by my OCs, Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling.

George awoke to a loud rapping on the door.

"Are you up yet?" called Aquila. "I thought you were going to meet me at breakfast."

"I'm up, I'm up!" George shouted back, hurriedly rolling out of bed.

He had slept surprisingly well. He still had the same dream that he always did, chasing a just barely out of reach Fred, however he felt like he had just had the first good night of sleep in years.

Pulling on clean pants and a t-shirt, he opened the door to find Aquila waiting next to it, foot tapping impatiently.

"Finally," she said, handing him a sandwich. "You missed breakfast, but some house-elves were kind enough to bring some food for the road."

Taking the sandwich gratefully, he took a large bite as they wandered through the castle towards the gate. Various students called out to them, remembering the display last night. Looking at Aquila, he noticed she seemed more at ease than she had yesterday as she smiled at the children and waved to them as the pair went past.

As he finished his sandwich and brushed crumbs from his shirt, he felt a renewed sense of happiness at the thought of being able to cross off another item from the bucket list. Exiting the gates, he opened his pack and pulled out a large book.

"What's that?"

"Wizarding Landmarks, Villages, and Geography of the World," he said, reading off the title.

"With pictures, I see."

"That's the important part. If we're going to apparate to all these places that we've never been, we'll need a picture for reference."

Slightly impressed at his forethought, she nodded. Stepping closer to him, she leaned in and flipped open the cover.

George felt her hair tickle his nose as the breeze caused several pale strands to blow wildly. Flipping a few pages, he pointed at picture of several large white homes with blue painted doors. The buildings sat on sand so white that it looked like it was the same color as their walls. Clear blue water lapped at the sand, seagulls flying above in the sky.

"We're going to Ikaria," George said.

He studied the picture carefully, taking in everything. Aquila's eyes were narrowed as she moved her fingers over the page, intently studying it.

After several minutes, she looked up at him. "Are you ready?"

He took a few more seconds to imprint the picture in his head before nodding and tucking the book away.

"Don't get splinched," Aquila said with a teasing grin, taking a step away.

George closed his eyes and cleared his mind. "I'll see you there."

He turned and felt the familiar compression from all angles, drawing in a deep breath as he appeared in a sunny, seaside village.

Aquila appeared next to him a second later, immediately turning her face to the sun and smiling widely.

They had apparated directly next to the one of the houses in the picture, which they could now see had a sign that read "Hotel" in handpainted letters.

"I suppose we should see if they have any rooms available before we go swimming," he said.

Agreeing, Aquila pushed open the door, a bell cheerfully jingeling. An older woman with black hair piled high in a bun sat reading at the front desk.

"Kaliméra!" she crowed, excitedly putting her book down.

George looked at Aquila helplessly. "Can you speak Greek?"

"No," she said, fishing around in her bag. "But I've got something that can."

She pulled out a piece of parchment and tapped it with her wand, clearly saying, "We need two rooms. Do have any available?"

George watched as Greek letters magically appeared on the parchment. Aquila showed the woman the paper, who shook her and spoke rapidly.

They looked at the parchment where "We have one room available. But there are two beds. 5 galleons per night, breakfast is included." had appeared.

Aquila and George looked at eachother.

"I'm fine with it if you are," she said.

"How long should we stay?"

"We have time," Aquila said. "It's not a rush to get through the list. We need to enjoy this."

"You're right, we should take our time," he said, although he felt slightly uncomfortable at the thought of sharing a room her.

Aquila spoke into the paper. "One room for two nights, please."

She held the paper out to the woman, while George pulled out his money pouch. He placed 10 galleons on the front desk while she grabbed a small brass key from the wall behind her,.

Aquila attempted to give him her share, however he shook his head. "You can pay for the next hotel."

The bell tinkled behind them, signalling that someone had just entered. A girl about sixteen, with the same dark hair and tan completion as the woman in front of them, entered, speaking quickly to the woman. The woman replied to her, placing the key in the George's hand and scooping the money into the register.

The girl turned to them with an excited look on her face. "Are you English?" she asked, with a slight accent.

They nodded.

The girl clapped her hands together enthusiastically. "My name is Delia. This is my mother, Athena."

George and Aquila introduced themselves as Delia lead them to their room.

"We get a some tourists, but not a lot of English," she said as she lead them through a winding hallway. "People like coming to see the sirens."

"Do people actually disappear?" asked Aquila, growing visibly more anxious.

"Sometimes," said Delia with a shrug. "I've found bones washed up on shore before."

"So, how would you recommend not dying?" Aquila said, nervously tugging at her hair.

"We were planning on going swimming with the sirens," explained George.

Delia stopped in front of a large painting of a sailor leaning over a ship, reaching to grab the hand of a beautiful siren.

"As long as you do a ear plugging charm, you should be okay," she said thoughtfully. "Just get back before it gets dark. The ones that are out during the day love playing with people. Even if they don't sing, their speaking voices are enough to make you never want to leave the water."

She turned around and continued through the hall.

"What about the ones at night?" asked Aquila.

"Those ones aren't so nice. They're more interested in lurring people off."

Aquila chewed her lip. George gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Then we won't go swimming at night," he said to her softly.

Delia stopped once again, this time in front of a door.

"There's a lot of stuff to do here at night. A disco and some cafes. Plus, the stars are beautiful out here, everyone always says. There's a silencing charm that starts at the water's edge, so you can sit out on the deck," she said animatedly.

"Thanks, Delia," said George.

"Yeah, thanks. We really appreciate the advice."

"Happy to help," she said cheerfully, disappearing back down the hallway.

George turned the key in the lock and opened the door to a small bedroom. Two twin beds sat on opposite sides of the walls with crocheted blankets on top. George sat his bag on one bed, while Aquila plopped down on the other. He opened a set of double doors in between the beds and breathed in the sea air, momentarily blinded by the the bright sun.

"You have to check this out," he said, shaking his head in amazement as he stepped out onto the deck.

Aquila followed him out, a small "wow" escaping her lips. The deck looked out on a long white beach and clear water, with several large rocks sitting out in the sea. A few sirens lay out on the rocks, sunning themselves. A red headed siren with a long, sea-green tail saw them watching, and waved, a large smile on her face. Aquila and George waved back.

"Ready to go swimming with sirens?" asked George.

"Thank Merlin I packed a swimsuit," she said, taking one last look at the sea before re-entering the bedroom.

Aquila unpacked a green suit, turning back to George. "I'll change in the bathroom."

He unpacked his own swim trunks, glad he had brought such an extensive wardrobe. Slipping into them quickly, he folded his clothes and re-packed them in his bag.

The bathroom door opened behind him and he turned around, saying, "Do you think we should pack something to ea-" before immediately stopping.

George was certain that his face matched his hair. He cleared his throat, uncomfortable at seeing Aquila practically naked.

"Are you alright?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I've just, just got something in my eye is all," he said, turning away and furiously rubbing his eye.

" _Merlin, mate, it must have been a long time since you've had a date",_ he could practically hear Fred guffawing.

Aquila tossed him a towel she had grabbed from the bathroom and the two left the room, George still pretending to rub his eye.

They stepped out of the hotel on to the beach. Aquila removed her shoes and moaned slightly, digging her feet into the warm sand as they walked closer to the water's edge.

"And to think, I should be sitting in my office right now, writing up Mr. Dibney's 7th will," she said, stretching her arms over her head.

"7th?"

"He's been married and divorced 6 times in the last 8 years."

"I can't imagine being married 6 times! That's bonkers," he chuckled, setting his towel down.

"It's a nice tradition now. Like Christmas," she laughed, setting her towel down as well.

"We should stick together out there since we won't be able to hear or speak."

Aquil nodded, however George sensed a change. While just moments before she had seemed confident, he could see it fading quickly.

"You're worried we're going to get murdered by sirens, aren't you?" he said.

"Only three days together, and you can already read my feelings," she said dryly.

She sat down on the towel and shook her head. "I just don't know how you do it."

George sat down next to her. "Do what? Because I can promise you that I've never done anything like this before."

"Be brave all the time."

He shrugged. "I'm not brave all the time. You saw me yesterday at Hogwarts."

Aquila said nothing, tucking her knees under chin.

"No one can be brave all the time," George said. "Sometimes you need someone who can be brave for you. You were brave for me yesterday. So I'll be brave for you today."

He took her hand, pulling her up with him.

"You know what we're going to do?" he said.

She giggled, slightly unsure. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to go out there and swim with some sirens. And we're going to have a bloody good time doing it."

She let out another laugh, this time more steady.

"Thank you," she said.

"Like you said yesterday," George grinned, "we're in this together."

George placed a simple security spell over their towels and shoes, and quickly cast the bubble and ear plugging charms. Aquila handed her wand to him, which he placed into the pocket of his swim trunks, along with his own.

He took her hand, mouthing, "Ready?"

Aquila nodded and began walking with him into the warm water, the pair slowing to let the sea lap over their feet and legs. When the water reached George's stomach, he pointed down into the water, releasing Aquila's hand and diving in.

Thanks to the bubble head charm, they could see perfectly clearly under the water. As they swam father from shore and deeper into the sea, a dark haired siren with pearls in her hair swam up next to them. She lazily flipped over with a gentle flick of her blue tail, watching them curiously. Swimming closer until she was right in front of them, she poked the bubble around George's face with extreme interest.

The siren turned to her attention to Aquila, and ran her fingers through the blonde's hair, the witch noticeably tensing at the touch. The dark haired siren plucked several sea shells from her own hair, and twisted Aquila's hair up into a series of complicated knots, adorned with beautiful shells.

George begin to snicker at how silly the new hairstyle looked on Aquila, who gave him a dirty look before pointing at the shells, and then pointing at George's hair. The siren smiled, taking a small clam shell out of her hair and clipping it into his before swimming off again. Aquila laughed, the bubble around her face shaking hard while he made a rude gesture at her.

At that moment, he felt something grab his foot and he immediately kicked out. He looked down, and saw that it was the red headed siren that they had waved to from the deck. She released his leg, swimming up to meet them face to face and gave him an apologetic shrug. Beaming, she touched the shell in his his hair and seemed to nod her approval. Motioning for them to follow, she began swimming away. George looked at Aquila and nodded his head towards the disappearing siren, the pair following her slowly.

She lead them to a large, flat rock, where they surfaced. Pulling herself up onto it, she held her hand out to Aquila and helped the witch up. George clambered up onto the rock, thankful that it was large enough to fit all three of them comfortably. He looked down, noticing that the rock was covered in names. A heart that looked like it had been carved with a dull knife surrounded the initials NS + TG. He looked over the rest of the rock, taking in all of the messages from the adventurers before them.

 _Brian rocks!_

 _Celia and Mary forever_

 _Voldemort sux hippogriff dung!_

He snorted at the last one, realizing then that he still had the bubble head charm on. Taking out his wand, he tapped his bubble, then Aquila's, effectively popping them.

"Thanks," she mouthed. He nodded, and pointed at the the inscribed notes. The siren, noticing their interest in the names, pointed at a much large name in the center surrounded by little hearts and flowers, tapping her chest proudly.

 _Ariel_

She dug through a messenger bag that had been sitting on the rock, and pulled out a small knife that looked to be made of sharpened rock, the hilt glistening with pearls. Handing it to George, she pointed at him and mimed writing on the rock. He took his wand, pointing it at the rock, however Ariel grabbed it, shaking her head and offering him the knife again. George took it, spending a few moments writing his name into the rock's surface. He offered it to Aquila then. She took it, scratching her name in while Ariel looked at George's inscription. He saw Aquila pause, then smile to herself as she used the knife to etch in another line. Leaning over, he read the words that she had carved under her own name.

 _Fred Weasley was here_

He smiled with her, as they shared an understanding that wouldn't need words even if they could hear each other.

Not noticing the exchange that was happening before her, Ariel took something else out of her bag, this time a child's ball. She tapped Aquila's leg, stopping to admire her painted toenails and nodded her head towards the water as she tossed the ball into the sea. Ariel wiggled off of the rock and into the water, Aquila following her closely. George crossed his legs, watching the siren and the witch play catch.

Aquila looked ridiculous, soaked hair covered in shells and a bit of seaweed plastered to her face. But her smile was enchanting. George watched her laugh uninhibited, as she threw her head back, white blonde hair flicking everywhere.

They spent the rest of the afternoon playing water games with Ariel, who also showed them how to hunt for pearls. Aquila later gave her a complicated side braid interwoven with flowers from her wand, as George entertained them by backflipping off of the rock.

When the sun dipped lower in the sky, they said their silent goodbyes to their new friend. She hugged them tightly, waving them off from her rock as George and Aquila swam leisurely back to shore.

They picked their towels and shoes off of the ground, shaking the sand off as they both removed their ear plugging charms.

"It feels so good to talk again," said George.

"I know, I didn't realize how hard it would be to communicate without speaking," Aquila replied.

"You seemed to do a pretty good job of it out there. Especially with that one who did your hair so beautifully."

She elbowed him lightly in the ribs. "Oh no, my hair doesn't look _near_ as good as yours."

They laughed together, walking in step back to the hotel.

George stopped outside the front door as Aquila made to open. "I'm starving, I was thinking I would pick up something from the cafe."

"You read my mind," said Aquila. "Just get whatever you like."

"What if I like flobberworm sandwiches?"

"Then you'll be eating by yourself tonight."

"Alright, alright, no flobberworm," he chuckled, raising his hands in defeat.

An hour later, he entered their shared room with several sandwiches and sides, as well as two bottles of the cafe's specialty - fresh, cold butterbeer.

Aquila was laying on her bed wearing shorts and a long sleeve shirt, her hair now detangled and shell free, although he noticed that she kept them in a pile on the nightstand.

"I was thinking we could eat on the deck," she said, standing up when he entered the room.

George opened the door to the outside, sitting down in one of the chairs. Aquila curled up in the one next to him, taking one of the sandwiches. She pulled something out of her pocket, and shook it at him.

"What's that?" he said.

"While this hotel might not have an in-house, five star restaurant as I am so used to, Athena has it quite well stocked with mini-bottles."

"Butterbeer and brandy? Are you out of your mind, woman?" he practically shouted.

"How was I supposed to know what you would get to drink? Besides, beggars can't be choosers," she said.

He took one of the offered bottles and poured them into his drink.

"This is like being underage again," he said, wincing slightly as he took a gulp. "I don't think I had anything this bad, though."

Aquila took a long sip, setting her bottle down to take a bite of her gyro. "You haven't had a bad drink until you've mixed pumpkin juice and Firewhiskey. I think I was off pumpkin juice for months after that."

George grimaced, thinking of the taste. "I'm assuming that was a mistake during your younger years."

"6th year," she smirked. "We were having a Christmas party while Madame Maxime was at Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament. It got a little out of hand."

"So, what's Beauxbatons like? Fleur Delacour would never shut up about how _magnifique ze castle ez_ ," he said in an exaggerated accent.

"It _is_ quite beautiful," she said. "Fleur is right."

"Why didn't you come to Hogwarts for the Tournament?" he asked.

"It was only for 7th years. They were the only ones who were legally allowed to enter, after all," she said.

After a slight pause, she said, "You know, I was invited to their wedding. Fleur's and your brother's."

"Really?" asked George in surprise.

Aquila nodded. "We lost touch after the war, but we were good friends while we were in school."

"So why didn't you come?"

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I didn't think it would be good for me to show up. You know, daughter of a death eater and all that. I was staying in France then, trying to keep away from the impending war." Smiling to herself, she continued. "She's amazing, Fleur. Even when people at school said she was only considered the best student because of her Veela charm, she never let it get her down. She told me that was the proudest day of her life, when she was selected for the Triwizard Tournament. She said it was finally a chance to prove that she was the best not because of how she looked, but because of what what in her head and in her heart."

"Fleur's a good sister-in-law," said George. "She's much different than what we all had thought she was like. And so are you, for that matter."

"And what, exactly, did you think I was like?"

He took another drink, feeling the alcohol warm him from within and loosen his lips. "Cold. Nasty. Self-serving."

"You mean like the rest of my family."

George paused, unsure of how to respond.

"I know I can be cold. And I'm not very good with people," Aquila said slightly ruefully, taking another bite. "But I feel like I'm different around you."

"How so?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "Look, can we just drop it? I _hate_ talking about my family."

"Why's that?"

"You've seen what they're like."

"Yeah," said George, "But that doesn't mean you don't need to talk about it."

"I'm fine," she said, her voice audibly growing cooler. "I came on this trip because I wanted to make up for my family's support of the Dark Lord, not talk about my childhood."

George looked at her calmly. "When, or if, you ever want talk. I'm here."

She said nothing in response at first, then nodded once, mumbling, "Alright" as she continued to look out on the water.

George sat back in his chair, continuing to sip his butterbeer. He felt guilty for pushing Aquila to talk about her family, especially since they had only known each other for such a short amount of time. He wanted to help her though. She had left her life behind without a thought or care to come with him on this trip, and he couldn't even imagine what it must have been like to be raised by people known for their callousness towards others. While he may have grown up ashamed of his family's tiny, disheveled house and their constant struggle with money, they were the most loving and supportive group of people that you could ask for.

They spent the rest of the night in silence, watching the moonlight catch on the scales of the siren's tails. George was glad that they were staying here for a full week. This had been a day that he would never forget. And he couldn't wait to spend the rest of the week swimming with sirens.

A/N - Thanks for reading! This was a difficult chapter since they spent a good chunk of it not being able to speak to each other. The next chapter will focus them spending the week at the hotel and getting to know each other more. Please review and tell me good things :)


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait on this. Writer's block, combined with starting a movie reviewing podcast with a friend (pm me or comment if you want the name).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy! This is kind of a filler chapter, but I wanted to take time to focus on their friendship and them get to know each other better. I loved writing them interacting with each other, hope you do too!

After sleepily falling into their beds, they were awakened the next morning by a few sharp knocks.

"It's Delia," the voice called. "I just wanted to let you know that breakfast is ready."

Aquila groaned and sat up slowly.

"'S to eary."

Yawning, George sat up as well. He stretched, running his hands through his hair.

Aquila flopped back down, burying her face in the pillow.

"Come on," said George, chucking his pillow at her head.

She groaned again, but began to get out of bed.

"Tomorrow I'm telling her to not bother us until after 9. This is supposed to be my vacation after all."

She pulled some shorts and a tank top out of her bag. Turning back to him, Aquila said, "Do you mind if I have the bathroom first?"

"Go ahead," George shrugged.

Once she had closed the door to the tiny bathroom, she turned on the shower and quickly jumped in, scrubbing the remaining sea scent off of herself. Leaning her head back, she let the warm water fall down her face. Aquila felt guilty for snapping at George last night. She knew that he was just trying to be kind. Merlin knew she wasn't used to it.

She raked her fingers through her scalp, continuing to think to herself. How could he look at her and not hate her? Not see the family who had killed his own twin?

Pressing her hand to the wet tiles on the wall, she bent her head and stared at the water flowing down the drain. She knew that she should be more open with him. But three days of kindness from a stranger couldn't undo over twenty years of being told that _what happens in the family, stays in the family._

A knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts.

"Hey, you almost done in there?" George shouted over the water.

"Out in a minute," she called back.

Aquila turned off the knob and squeezed the water out of her hair, wrapping a towel around herself as she stepped out of the shower. Looking in the mirror as she dried off, she paused. The circles under her eyes were as purple as ever. And yet, she felt well rested. Maybe one day, she wouldn't have to use magic to cover up the bruise colored bags.

Pulling on shorts and a tank top, she opened the door.

"Sorry about that," she said. "Three days was too long to go without a shower."

George laughed. "No worries."

The exchanged positions, George entering the bathroom as Aquila left it.

She was opening the patio doors when a large bird flew in the room. Recognizing it immediately, she smiled as the owl stuck out his leg, allowing her to take the letter. As Aquila sat down on her bed, she opened the letter and Draco's familiar handwriting greeted her.

 _Aquila,_

 _For the life of me, I can't understand why you would want to spend unnecessary time with the Weasleys. That being said, I will always support you. You're my sister. And after everything we've been through together, it's the least I can do._

 _I remember the flying carpet. And I remember afterwards when Father locked you in your room for a week. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything then. You've always protected me, and I've tried do the same for you. Whatever you need, I'm here._

 _Love you always,_

 _Draco_

Folding the letter, Aquila smiled softly to herself. She gave Draco's owl a final pat on the head as it took another drink out of a glass on her nightstand and flew back out the door.

Looking in the folded piece of paper in her hand, she thought about what he had written. Draco was right. She had always tried to protect him. Her father was a cruel man, harsh and unloving. He could have been replaced with an ice sculpture and she wouldn't have known the difference.

Her father had never been physically violent, thankfully. In fact, Aquila never remembered him touching them at at all. While he hadn't hit them, however, his method of punishment was still callous. Lucius frequently would lock them in their rooms for days on end if they disobeyed him. Leaving for Beauxbatons had been a mixed blessing. Aquila felt free for the first time in her life. No one to punish her for making a mistake, or being imperfect. She felt guilty though, knowing Draco was still at home. The first time she came back at Christmas, however, it was like her brother had turned into a different person. When she left, he had been a kind, precocious child of nine, but in the few months that she had been gone, he had already began to emulate their father's cruelty.

The day after she got back, the siblings went outside to play in the snow. After a few minutes of throwing snowballs at each other, Aquila asked him if he wanted to sneak away and visit the muggle kids across the woods. They had been forbidden from interacting with muggles at an early age, however neither of them paid any attention to the rule.

Draco snorted uncharacteristically at her when she said that.

"Why would we want to do that?" he said, tilting his chin up and wrinkling his nose. "Father has been talking to me about them. He says all muggles are beneath us."

He sniffed loudly and began to pack the snow together, making a large ball.

She had been too shocked to say anything. He was just a child, and yet he was already learning the same hate that their father was full of. Aquila helped him make a snow wizard in silence, wondering what to do. She had protected him for as long as she could from Lucius' anger, but she had never thought that she would need to protect him from her father viewed as "kindness".

The bathroom door opened in front of her, jolting her upright.

"I'm starving," said George, running a comb through his hair.

"Yeah, me too," she said, quickly hiding the letter in her bag.

Aquila didn't want to think about her brother or father right now. She just wanted an enormous breakfast after their swimming yesterday.

After making their way downstairs and filling their plates, the pair sat outside and enjoyed the rest of the sunrise.

"So," said George.

"So," Aquila replied.

"What should we do?"

She grinned, taking another bite of the delicious breakfast that Delia and Athena had made.

"Let's go swimming again."

While they had originally only intended to spend an extra night there, they ended up staying for two full weeks. They spent days relaxing in the sun, swimming with the sirens, and having Delia teach them Greek in exchange for tales about England.

On the fifth night, they were once again eating dinner in the patio. As she took a bite of pizza, Aquila admired the sea shell bracelet that Ariel had made her today.

"Can I ask you a question?" said George.

She shrugged. "I guess."

"What's your favorite color?" he asked.

"My what?" she laughed

"Your favorite color."

"I don't know. Green, I guess? Or maybe blue."

"You don't know what your own favorite color is?"

"In my defense, it's not really something that's been important since I was five," she said, wiping some pizza grease off of her chin. "What's yours?"

"Red."

"Red looks good on you," she said, before realizing what she had said. Clearing her throat, she continued, " Was there a reason for that question?"

Shrugging, he said, "We're going to be spending the next year together. I figured we better get to know each other."

Aquila nodded. "So, what's your favorite food?"

"Steak and kidney pie. My mum makes an excellent one. Yours?"

"Depends. When I'm in France, sweet crepes. When I'm in England, fish and chips."

"I've never had crepes."

Aquila sighed, thinking about the taste. "They had the best crepes at Beauxbatons. And every topping you could think of. Chocolate, fruit, whipped cream, custard. Everything."

"That sounds pretty amazing."

"One day, I will take you to a creperie. I'm sure that list will take us to France at some point."

"It will. Beauxbatons, in particular," George said with a grin.

"Are you going to tell me what for?"

"You'll see when we pick the next the one."

"We?" she said, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"You're as much a part of this as I am now. You get to pick the bucket list tasks too."

She paused, appreciating once again how kind he was to her. "Thanks."

"Alright, next question - do you have any pets now? Or childhood pets?"

"We didn't have any pets, my father said they were too messy and too loud. I always wanted a dog though," she said wistfully. "As long as you love them, they'll love you back. They don't ask you to be perfect. They don't ask for anything but love."

George gave her a slightly sad smile. "We had a bunch of outdoor cats, but that was it. I always wanted a dog as well, but Mum didn't want to get stuck taking care of it."

"Why haven't you gotten one yet?"

"The shop got so busy, so fast. And I guess...I guess part of it was that Fred wanted a dog too. It just didn't feel right, getting one without him."

"You shouldn't let that stop you."

"Yeah, well, maybe when we're back, I'll think about it."

Aquila watched George take another slice of pizza out of the box, a far off look in his eyes. She was certain that he was thinking about his brother.

"Tell me about your most embarrassing school memory," she said.

"Oh Merlin, I don't even know," he said stopping to think. "When I was 11, and Fred and I first got to Hogwarts, some older kid offered to sell us an invisibility potion. Little did we know that there was no such thing as an invisibility potion."

"So what happened?"

"We walked into McGonagall's office while she was in there."

"While she was in there?!"

"We thought we were invisible! Started floating things around her room since and making ghost noises. We thought that we could scare her. I don't think I've ever seen her look so confused," he said.

"Did you get in trouble?"

Chuckling, he said, "No, she just said, ' _I don't know what you think you're doing, Fred and George Weasley, but get out of my office before I put you in detention'."_

Aquila snorted. "That must have been disappointing, getting tricked like that."

"It was. But that was what made us decide that we wanted to create our own joke products."

"And how's the invisibility potion coming along?"

"Still working on that one," he grinned. "What about you? What's your most embarrassing school memory?"

"I would say..third year? I was getting ready to go to our annual winter ball, and I tried a new spell to curl my hair."

"How'd that go?"

"I ended up going to the dance with no eyebrows and all of the hair on the right side of my head missing. Not a great look."

George burst out laughing.

Continuing, she said,"The school nurse was able to give me something to grow it all back, but it took a while. Draco found a photo of it a few years later. I think he's still got it framed somewhere."

"My siblings would never let me live that down. We took the mickey out of Ron just for wearing lacy dress robes to the Yule Ball."

"Which one was Ron again?"

"Second youngest. The one who got all the quidditch gear."

"Your family seems really close," Aquila said, looking at him. "You're lucky."

"I know."

"When we were younger, Draco and I used to play quidditch all the time. I was never good at it though. Lost every match. Except for one."

She could tell that he was watching her carefully, waiting for her to continue this story of her family.

"I think he was 6, and I was 8. It was a lucky shot. That's it. But Draco got so mad, he started crying."

"He did that a few years ago too," said George.

"He got so mad that he started to pack a few suitcases. Books, clothes, shoes, everything. He even had the house elves make him a full picnic basket of food for the road. When he left, I asked my mother if we needed to go get him. She just laughed, and took me outside. Draco had packed so much stuff that he couldn't even get to the gate without dropping something," she laughed.

"Well," said George, "Good to know that he's always been that dramatic."

"You should have seen him. He even tried to take a fur coat with him."

"Merlin," he guffawed, shaking his head. "So what happened?"

"Eventually, he decided to come back, after a full hour of trying to run away from home. I helped him unpack. And he drew a picture for me of my winning goal."

"That's..surprisingly nice of him."

"He's a good brother," said Aquila, smiling with him. "He's not always the best person. But he's a good brother."

"Do you see him a lot?" he said.

"I try to. It's hard though. He wants to talk about the war. Our family. Everything that happened. And I just don't know how to"

"You'll figure it out."

"I hope so," she said, leaning back in the chair. "Now tell me more about your brothers."

They spent the rest of the evening discussing the Weasley family, George happily accepting her request to hear more about them.

She loved hearing about their tight knit family, his overprotective mother, and insanely brave sister. Though she had only met them briefly at the will reading, she felt like she already knew them.

Their last night in Greece, George had talked her into going to the local dance club, despite Aquila's protests.

"I hate crowds," she said, when he initially brought it up. "And loud music."

"Calm down, Moaning Myrtle. It'll be fine."

"First off, I don't even know who that is. Second, I'm a terrible dancer."

"We'll be there together."

"I...I don't know."

He took her hand, squeezing it gently.

"Come on."

Sighing, she looked down at their entwined hands.

He squeezed her hand again. "Anytime you get scared, just take my hand."

Aquila grimaced slightly. "Alright."

She had packed a few dresses, and although none of them really said "club worthy", she eventually decided on a lacy, red knee length number. George had chosen to simply wear jeans along with a deep green dress shirt.

They entered the buzzing club, weaving their way through the throngs of people as they looked for an empty table. Aquila was josseled several times, feeling as if the crowds were closing tightly in on her. The voices and music seemed to all combine into a single audible buzzing as her mouth went dry. _Merlin, she really hated crowds._ Reaching out, she grabbed George's hand. He responded by squeezing it tightly, seeming to send her calm energy through his fingertips. Spotting an empty table, he lead her over to it.

"This place is mad!" she shouted over the music.

"I know! Come on, let's go dance!"

She shook her head as George danced around her.

Aquila laughed as he took her hand, leading her into center of the dance floor. Twirling her, she threw her head back, laughing again. Keeping a hold of his hand, she did her best to dance to the beat.

George leaned in. "You were right, You really are a terrible dancer!"

Lightly smacking him on the shoulder, she yelled, "Oh, piss off. You lost a dance off to a teacher!"

"That's fair."

They danced for what had to have been several hours when the music eventually slowed down. She saw the dance floor thin, and the couples in the club dance closely more together. George pulled her in before she had a chance to lead him off with all of the other single people. Placing his hand gently on the small of her back, she paused before putting a hand on his shoulder.

He smelled nice. That was her first thought. Like the gunpowder and mint. She could feel her face heating up, and noted the butterflies in her stomach. It had been years since she had a boyfriend and years since someone who wasn't Eliza or Draco had held her this close.

She took a moment to rest her forehead on his shoulder, enjoying the feeling of being held by someone. As the song faded and a new one with a faster beat began, the floor began to fill back up. Aquila broke away from him, her face still pink.

"I'm tired," she said, pushing her hair out of her face.

It was hard to tell if George's face was also red from their previous closeness, or if it was just the physical exertion of dancing for so long.

He nodded, beginning to walk towards the exit. Aquila followed behind him, her body feeling like it was running a fever and her head still buzzing. The night air felt good on her skin, cooling the fire underneath.

The pair walked in silence back to the hotel, when George cleared his throat.

"My mum sent an owl earlier, while you were walking on the beach. Frankly, I'm surprised that it took her that long," he said.

"Probably best not to mention that we were swimming with what the Ministry deems 'dangerous creatures'."

"I told her about the dance off with McGonagall. That'll make the whole family laugh."

Aquila smiled, and they lapsed into momentary silence.

"My brother sent me a letter a few days ago," she said softly.

"Did he tell you that you should try to spend less time with a Weasley?"

"Something like that."

George snorted. "That sounds like Draco Malfoy."

"He also said that he would always support me, though," she said, "no matter what. Like I said before - he's a good brother."

"That's what family is for, isn't it?"

"Not my family. They've never really been supportive of anything that didn't involve the dark arts and hating muggles."

They opened the door to the hotel, a sleepy Athena giving them a wave from the front desk.

As they made their way up to their room, Aquila gently touched his arm. "Thanks for making me go out."

Unlocking the door, he smiled. "Thanks for letting me talk you into it."

They entered the room, Aquila sinking down on the bed and gratefully taking off her heels. She winced slightly, massaging her toes. She wore heels on occasion, however never when she would be standing or moving around for long periods of time.

"Where are we off to tomorrow?" she asked, still rubbing her aching feet.

George walked out of the bathroom, now in his pajamas. "I figured we could take a look at the list tomorrow after we pack up."

"Alright," she said, entering the bathroom with her sweatpants.

She pulled off her dress, yawning widely. Eliza had tried to get her out to a club for a while, insisting it was a good place to meet someone. As a social butterfly, that was probably true for her, but not for Aquila. Still, she had enjoyed it.

Opening the door, she stretched and rolled her neck around, loudly popping it. George was already in bed, eyes closed.

"'Night, George," she said, turning off the lamp and crawling into bed.

"Goodnight," he responded.

Aquila thought she heard him whisper something else under his breath. Something that sounded like a second "goodnight", but she was certain that she had just misheard.

Closing her eyes, she drifted off. Two tasks down, a lot more to go.


	9. Chapter 9

**I do not own Harry Potter, I only own my OC. Thank for reading!**

It had taken George ages to fall asleep that night. The feeling of Aquila's breath on his neck and the warm feeling of her hand on his shoulder while they were dancing made it impossible to clear his mind. He had dated a few women since the war, but nothing serious. A year ago, he and Angelina had gone on a few dates. While they both liked each other, they agreed that they didn't have "relationship" feelings, happily agreeing to remain friends.

" _Forget about it, mate,"_ he said to himself.

Exhaustedly flopping over and shutting his eyes, George waited for sleep to come. And as the new sun was rising on the beach, light slowing creeping into their room; it finally did.

"You look like a pile of owl dung," Aquila said to him, when he rolled out of bed.

"Couldn't sleep," he responded, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

He watched her pack the rest of the clothes and items that had been scattered around in the two weeks that they had been here. Finally getting out of bed, he began to do the same. He paused when he looked at all of the trinkets they had amassed while here. A strand of pearls given to him by a black haired siren sat on his nightstand. Picking it up, he delicately ran it through his fingers, smiling while thinking about the days they had spent with Ariel and her sisters. George gently placed the necklace in his bag, hoping that it would be safe in a container that had enough items to furnish a small room.

"Here," he said, taking Fred's list and handing it to Aquila.

He watched her spend several minutes reading it over, a serious look on her face.

"Fred was...certainly an ambitious man," she said, face scrunching thoughtfully.

"Yeah, he was," George responded

"I know what we should do," she said, after another minute. "Go to a muggle theme park."

"Did you have a particular one in mind?"

Smiling slyly, she said, "Have you ever heard of Disney World?"

"Can't say I have."

"Eliza is a muggle-born. When she found out that I love movies, she made me watch all of the animated Disney ones."

"We watched an animated film in muggle-studies class once. " said George, thinking. "I think it was called...Lion Prince?"

"Lion King!" she practically shouted. "I love that one. That's a Disney movie. And this whole park, it's his. Everything is lovely and wonderful, and magical, but magic as the muggles see it."

George placed his final items in his backpack. "Then we'll go go Disney World."

"Can I ask for one thing though?"

"Of course."

"I don't want to just go to a muggle theme park. I want to experience it like muggles," Aquila said.

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't allowed to take muggle studies classes at Beauxbatons. The little I know comes completely from Eliza and the movies I've seen. So, I think we should do this experience as muggles. Including traveling."

"What, you mean no floo powder?"

"I mean no floo powder, no wands, nothing. We do this as muggles."

George shook his head. "You're mad, Aquila, you know that?"

"I bet," she said, "that I can go longer without using magic that you."

Never one to turn down a challenge, George stuck out his hand. "All right Malfoy, you're on."

She shook his hand, smirking slightly. He had seen that look more times than he could count on her brother's face, however on her, it looked endearing. Not cruel, but gently teasing.

"Winner buys a round of butterbeer," Aquila said, dropping his hand.

"That's it? Come on, it's got to be something better than that."

"What's your suggestion then?"

He shrugged. "We'll figure it out."

"You know I really don't like leaving it up to 'figuring it out'," she said, turning around to do a final sweep of the room.

"And yet, here you are," George murmured to himself.

After finishing packing their bags and Aquila had done 5 walkthroughs of the room, bath, and patio to make sure they had all of their items, they said a cheery goodbye to Delia and Athena. After telling the women where they would be going, the two had kindly shown George and Aquila a handy spell to make their Ministry issued IDs appear like regular muggle ones, as well as arranging a muggle boat to take them to Greece and exchanging a portion of their gold for muggle bank notes.

As they walked along the empty road in silence, George thought about how difficult it would be to not use magic. He and Aquila had both been raised by wizarding families and had spent little time, if any, in the muggle world. At least he had a slight advantage having Hermione, a muggle born, and Harry, raised by muggles, as part of his family, as well as his father's near-obsession with things like aeroplanes and electricity.

Aquila walked slowly next to him, turning every minute to look at the fading seaside village with a sad look on her face.

"Are you alright?" asked George.

"It just feels odd to be leaving."

"We can always come back and visit," he said.

She was quiet, fidgeting her hands and playing with her hair. "The hotel was almost starting to feel like a home."

George understood what she meant then. The Burrow had always felt like a home, bursting at the seams with family and love. By contrast, he could only imagine that Malfoy Manor felt like a cold dungeon. He and Fred had made the flat above the shop their home, however since Fred had been killed, it had felt simply like a place to exist.

"It's not a place," he said. "Home, I mean."

"I don't understand."

"Mum always said that home isn't a physical place. It's a feeling. It doesn't matter where you are, it's who you're with."

He saw her smile softly,

"Tell me about your mother," Aquila said.

"I'll tell you about my mum if you tell me about yours."

"I don't think we have enough time for that."

"We're travelling without magic from Greece to the United States. We've got nothing but time."

"Fine," she said, sounding slightly annoyed at his reasoning.

Ahead of them, the small outline of a muggle village appeared.

"My mother," said George, after a few moments of thought, "is probably the most caring person in the world. Always puts her family before herself."

"Do you still see her a lot? And the rest of your family?"

"Every Sunday, for supper."

They entered the village, following the signs for the port. When they reached the dock, a weathered looking man was leaning against a small boat, reading a newspaper.

Looking up, he smiled at them. "You George and Aquila?"

"That's us," said George.

He shook both of their hands. "I'm Dan. Athena called this morning, said you'd be needing a ride to Athens."

"That's right," said Aquila. "Are you English?"

"Liverpool, born and raised," said Dan cheerfully, as he helped them get into the boat and get settled. "My wife is from here."

George and Aquila stowed their bags as Dan started up the boat, navigating them away from the dock. The pair turned behind them, watching the island get smaller and smaller.

As Ikaria disappeared, Dan said, "So, did you two both go to Hogwarts?"

Slightly surprised, George said, "Erm, yeah. Well, I did at least." He paused, and then said "I thought you were a muggle."

"Squib, actually," the man said. "My wife is a muggle, though, but our kids have magic. They'll be starting Hogwarts in a few years."

"Do you live on the island?" asked Aquila.

"Yeah, right in the village. It's nice because we're so close to a wizarding village as well. The kids can learn more about magic that we can teach them."

They were silent as the boat picked up speed, waves crashing against the bow.

"You can sit back and relax," Dan called over the sound of the ocean. "We'll be there in a few hours."

George watched Aquila lean back and close her eyes, arms crossed. He understood that she didn't want to continue their conversation about their families in front of someone they barely knew. Electing to do the same after his restless night, he quickly fell asleep thanks to the warm sun and rocking of the boat.

A loud horn jolted him up and out of his seat. Rubbing his eyes and looking around, George could see that they had arrived a large port. The area was packed, with hundreds of people getting off and getting on the various vessels.

Aquila looked around blearily, yawning widely. Dan tethered the boat to the dock, stepping out to help them up.

Opening her bag, Aquila took out a handful of bank notes. She stared at them for several moments, as if she was hoping they would make sense the longer she looked at it.

Dan noticed her and waved her off. "Don't worry about it. Athena's a friend and she said you were good people."

Aquila gave him a genuine smile, shoving the money back into her bag.

"Thanks mate," said George, sticking out his hand. "We appreciate it."

"No trouble at all," he said genially, giving Aquila's hand a quick shake as well.

Waving goodbye, the pair continued through the port, finding themselves on a busy street.

"How do we get to the airplanes?" said George.

Aquila responded by sticking her arm out and waving it wildly, loudly screeching "TAXIIIIIIIIIIIIII!". A yellow car swerved over, stopping in front of them.

"I saw that in the movies," she said with a hint of pride.

George opened the door for her and the pair slid in the back of the vehicle.

"Airport,"Aquila said to the driver.

Nodding, he tapped something on the center console that had first shown 00.00 when they had entered the taxi. As they moved along the car packed street, the number slowly increased.

"Have you ever been on a plane before?" George whispered to her.

Aquila shook her head, tapping her fingers on her legs and jiggling her foot. "I asked my mother about them once when we saw one while we were out. She said they were muggle death traps."

"Worst case," said George, "we just disapparate out of there."

Before Aquila could respond, the car pulled up to a bustling terminal. George could see a plane taking off overheard, and several sitting on the ground waiting.

Aquila shoved a handful of money at the man, who appeared to have received a large tip at the at the excited look on his face.

Entering the building, George and Aquila walked up to a woman standing at a tall desk. She smiled at them as they stepped forward, flicking her dark ponytail over her shoulder.

Thanks to his geography book, George knew they needed to fly to Orlando, Florida.

Stopping at the desk in front of the woman, he said, "I'm really sorry to ask you this, but do you possibly speak English? Our...erm…translator was helping us with everything earlier."

The woman laughed and said, "We get that a lot, English is no problem. Where would you like to go?"

"Orlando, Florida. In the United States."

She spent a few minutes looking at a computer, tapping on a board with letters on it.

"All right," she said. "I can get you out of here in an hour, but only first class is available. Is that all right?"

George turned to Aquila, who shrugged.

"Sure," he said, having no idea what first class was.

After telling them the total amount, which was so high that George nearly fainted and Aquila had once again flusteredly pulled out handfuls of cash, she said expectantly, "I'll need your IDs and passports."

The witch and wizard handed over their faked muggle passports and IDs, hoping that the spell did it's trick. She looked them over, tapping the board again.

Smiling, she handed them back. "You're all set. Have a good flight!"

"Thanks," George and Aquila said together.

As they followed the signs through the airport and found their gate, they boarded with a few minutes left before their flight departed. A tall woman in a blue uniform brought them each a tall glass filled with champagne and orange juice, which Aquila quickly slammed down.

A voice came on overhead, startling them. "Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be departing here shortly."

George leaned back in his seat, looking at the bright blue sky outside. He and Aquila had elected that he would be better off with the window seat.

He felt the airplane began to move, slowly at first, and then faster and faster. Aquila grabbed his hand, gripping it tightly and squeezing her eyes shut. George felt slightly nervous as well, however he had always been a keen flier. He was just imagining that this airplane was an enormous broomstick, and trying not to wonder how on earth it stayed up without magic.

Slightly amazed, he watched the wheels of the plane lift off of the ground and the ascend into the sky.

"Look," he whispered to Aquila, "Look outside, it's alright."

Slowly she opened her eyes, anxiously peering out the tiny window as she leaned over him. The building grew tinier with very second that passed. After a few minutes, he could see nothing but the deep blue of the ocean.

"It's beautiful up here," said Aquila with a surprised laugh. She leaned back in her seat and laughed again. "I don't know what I was so scared of."

"Nothing is ever as bad as you think it will be," said George.

Another drink had appeared in front of her which she gulped down, as the same voice from early spoke above them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the flight time is 15 hours and 35 minutes. Please sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight."

George leaned over and said, "How much money did we just pay to spend 15 hours on what your mother referred to as a 'muggle death machine'?"

"I have no idea what the exchange rate is. But the firm pays quite well. And my grandfather left me a large inheritance," Aquila said examining her nails blithely as she was brought yet another drink.

"That sentence made you sound more like Draco than I've ever heard you be," said George, slightly surprised.

Grimacing slightly, Aquila said, "Sorry. Money isn't something we ever thought about."

"We always did," he said, still looking outside. "I always felt so ashamed. Hand me down clothes, used books, rubbish house."

"If it makes you feel better," said Aquila, "I would trade all of my money in a second if it meant I had a family like yours."

"You said you'd tell me about them."

"I suppose I did."

He watched her then, as she looked away, a far off look in her eye. A piece of white hair fell in front of her face, hiding her eyes from him. Pushing it back, she sighed. "I don't really know where to start."

George shrugged. "Start at the beginning."

"I used to fantasize about having different parents," she began, "I'd lie awake at night, and I'd wish that one day they would knock on the door and explain that there had been a mix up at St. Mungo's. And they had looked for me every day until they found me."

"When did you give up on that?"

"When I realized that my mother and I looked exactly alike."

The uniformed woman brought her another drink, which Aquila sipped at. "I never understood why they didn't let me go to Hogwarts. That was where all of our family went. And Draco."

"Maybe she was trying to keep away from Voldemort."

"I don't think she cared about me enough to do that. If she had her way, I'd be married off to some pureblood and on my 3rd pregnancy."

"What about your father?" George asked.

Aquila gave a rueful laugh. "If my mother was ambivalent, then he was even more so. Although he did have a penchant for locking us in our rooms when we disobeyed. When he found out I was playing with the muggle girl who lived near us, I thought he was going to explode. That was two weeks locked in my room."

"You know Harry's aunt and uncle used to do the same to him. You two can bond over that."

"Oh yeah, that and the fact that my family supported people who killed his parents and attempted to kill him, not once, but twice."

George snorted. "That's fair."

"I thought it was normal until I was, like, 13. I just assumed everyone's parents locked them away for behaving badly."

"I can't imagine my father doing that. Although my mum did threaten us after she caught Fred and I trying to sell our joke products at the World Cup."

"Draco mentioned he ran into your family there. It was a great match."

George was surprised. He and his family had been in the same box as the Malfoy's, however he would have remember seeing Aquila there.

Noticing his confused look, she said, "I didn't watch from the box. One of my friends from school had tickets, so I watched with them."

She stopped for a moment, then said, "I knew my father was one of the men under the masks. We hid in the tent for hours, but I knew we were safe. He might not like me, but I knew he wouldn't have attack us."

"I remember that. We were all bloody terrified."

"That was the start of it all I suppose. Draco said near the end of the second war, he was different. Worried about us."

"And you don't believe him?"

"He wasn't worried enough to check on me. I believe he was worried about Draco. He was always my father's favorite. Bought into his blood purity shite."

George saw a tear leak down her face.

"I tried to protect him," she whispered, wiping her eyes. "I did everything I could to protect him from my father's influence and I still failed."

George took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. "That's not on you."

"I was supposed to protect him," she said again, more tears streaming down her face. "I should have done more."

"What else could you have done?"

"I don't know. Followed him to Hogwarts. Gone to the Child Services at the Ministry." Aquila sniffled loudly. "He was just a child. And my father ruined him and me while my mother looked on. And I don't know if I can ever forgive them for that."

"Have you spoken to them about that?"

She shook her head furiously. "My mother tried to come by last year, but I told her to leave. My parents haven't tried to contact me since then."

George was silent, thinking about his own family. He had watched his family argue and snap at each other more times than he could count, but at the end of the day, they would all gladly lay down their lives for each other. He never realized how lucky he was until now.

"My mother would adopt you if you wanted. I think she always wanted another girl," he said, attempting to lighten the tension.

Smiling slightly and using her napkin to wipe her eyes, she said, "Can we be done talking about my family for now? I'll tell you more another time. This is just… a lot."

"Of course," said George squeezing her hand.

She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Thank you for being my friend."

"Anytime."

They stayed like that for some time, before Aquila straightened in her seat as the uniformed women brought around their supper.

Slowly, the sun set around them, casting a bright orange light over the plane. Aquila and George had finished their food, both happy to discuss the light topic of the latest Chudley Cannons match. As George found out, while Aquila wasn't a flier, she was still a huge fan of the game.

With the sky now dark, the lights around them flicked off, their fellow passengers nodding off.

"When we wake up, I think we'll be there," said George, pulling one of the provided blankets over himself.

"I can't wait," said Aquila, leaning her seat back. "I'll see you in United States."

I know this is another "filler" chapter, but I liked the idea of them attempting to travel without magic! I hope you enjoy Aquila opening up more about her back story and their relationship continue to develop. As an FYI, I am planning to update every 2 weeks or so. Please give me a good review and let me know that you like it, your praise nourishes me!


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